#he's playing the Switch's calculator app

[starocide]

Happy Birthday to the UG's most normal guy :)

[degenrcy]

jeff da killa puts you to sleep ->

warnings: rape, blood, death, stalker, he totally loves you

link to ao3 if you want to read as i update, because who knows when or what i'll post on here!

a calm summer night. fresh sheets and a new pajama set. you lotioned up well, did your skincare, put up your hair securely after its own special treatment. a 3-wick vanilla scented candle filling up your room, soft music playing from your open laptop.

you slipped your panties on after sliding off your towel, showing off to the laptop and potential dark web perverts watching you through your tapped camera... just kidding! that stuff wasn't even real, who cares, nothing bad has happened to you ever anyways.

you were perfect; smooth and clean, smelled like a girl, looked like a girl, you probably felt like a girl. you were mesmerizing, clueless, naive, dumb, stupid, stupid, stupid bitch. a dumb, fucking idiot who left their window open on this calm summer night. multiple windows, just in case a possible intruder murderer rapist burglar wanted to do a house tour before intruding murdering raping raping again and robbing you.

i guess girls stay up late too, the light of your phone dulling out the shape of your face. expressionless, smooth cheeks, no longer smiling. just scrolling, and scrolling, and scrolling. one day you'll find the one- the perfect video to wrap up the night. not tonight.

boots touched down in your bathroom, mirror still foggy with products lined up on the sink waiting to be properly closed and put away. you were messy, lazy. you buy all these things, but don't have a place for them. you're useless.

he pondered the thought of flickering the bathroom lights. getting your attention. stabbing you through the shower curtain. it wasn't fun like that. this was going to be fun.

not much decoration for a girl like you. there's a dedicated board with pictures of friends and maybe some other meaningful sentimental items. he ripped off a photo booth picture of you to stash in his wallet and show you off to his friends... right. if he could smile anymore, he could. he wanted. he was.

slow calculated, heavy steps closer to your room. the vanilla and coconut and strawberry and burnt hair from the dryer wafted through the air. it was adorable, you trying to be so many kinds of girls at once... but there you were, in all your glory. natural state, relaxed, no performance in sight. his eyes widened at the sight-

girl. bra-shirt. pink. shorts. panties under shorts? alone. looking at phone, headphones, perfect. wait, even better, you tossed and turned a couple times before finally settling on showing your bare back to him. ass.

he slipped through, caressing the blade in his pocket. his fingertips twitched against the sharp side, edging closer and closer to nicking himself. but that would hurt. that's why he does it to others.

he watched your phone with you for a while, the mass amounts of content you ingest at once and switching through the same 3 apps was bound to drive you insane at some point. no wonder you haven't fallen asleep yet. ah, your ass jiggled a little. nice.

you couldn't even scream when he finally pounced on you, perma-crazed eyes forcibly locking onto your fear-filled ones. cold against your throat. pressure on your stomach holding you down. smooth, smooth, silky smooth skin. his fingers were disgusting against your mouth and nose, no more vanilla-coconut but dirt-blood-disgusting-horrible-oh-my-god-howdidyougetinherepleasedontkillmeohmygod

he was just gonna help you fall asleep!

"lift up your shirt." he commanded, twirling around the very used knife in front of you, leaning back to let you move. this is where you scream, attract your roommates and neighbors- oh wait thats right you're alone and he would've killed everyone else in the place and look at that, whimpering and lifting up your shirt. tiiiiits.

your phone buzzed with a text message, briefly lighting up the room. his face now dimly lit, and your face was completely disgusted. now you hurt his ego, so you were really gonna get it.

he twirled the knife back into his grip, stabbing through your precious phone. his free hand found its spot back at your jaw, gripping tightly until your cheeks smushed together and dug into your gums. he stared, unblinking, lowering the knife closer to your warm skin. he wanted to crawl inside you, burrow himself in your ribs, feel your womanly-warmth all the time and have you coddle him and rock him around while you walked around.

"take off everything now, slut."

you shook like a newborn deer taking its first steps and he was the obsessed hunter growing his collection of cute deer heads on his wall. he hummed in satisfaction as you peeled away your soft panties, trying to cover up and slow the process as much as possible. jokes on you, he loved a strip tease.

his knife tapped your knee, mouthing "open. up." silently, smooth shiny legs parting open for him. the flat of the blade rode up your thigh, your frail hands daring to try and stop him. a quick turn of his wrist and slice the first little baby cat scratch stretched across your bare thigh. your lips trembled underneath his fingers, tears welling in your eyes. you took it like a champ!

he let the blood soak up the blade as much as possible, giggling to himself at how sick you looked and how you writhed under his weight when he rubbed it into your face. he made a smile on your face with your own leg-blood. he licked your face, laughing even more as you cried. he spit on the knife, a bloody gob dripping down the length of it, then slid it down to your cunt. his heart swelled at your body freezing up, tensing, preparing for the worst. no no no, he wasn't cruel, not a monster.

"don't move," he huffed, undoing his pants as quick as possible and finally freeing his dick from its constraints. he rubbed the knife on himself, grabbing your wrists with on hand, holding them above your shaking-no head. no-no-no, side to side. "go on, beg me not to."

"p-please," you obliged. "anything but this, please, i-i don't know what you want..."

he rolled his eyes- heard it all before. he wiggled his way inside you, being as scared as you were made it a tight fit. it always did. he loved it.

you gave in so easily, you weren't even trying to kick him, what a little fucking whore. the nerve to make it seem like you didn't want it, hilarious.

he slashed your beauty a few more times, letting it trickle down your sides and into the bed sheets. he rubbed it all over your chest and stomach and face, tonguing your mouth with iron-taste filth and cigarette residual. you were getting quieter as he moved his hips faster, eyes rolling up to stare at the ceiling instead of the hideous creature inside you right now. he understood, the bodys way of coping and all.

he could let go of your hands now, they remained above your head anyways. phone out, flash on, record. in another life jeff would've loved to be an amateur pornstar. he got the best angles to watch his dick slipping inside you, blood inside and out and all over, it was fucking hot. he closed in on your face, the flash forcing your eyes closed and mind back to earth.

"n-no, please, don't." you only could cry, single word demands fall on fully hearing ears that didn't give a shit. he dug the knife into your face, ripping a scream finaaalllyyyy from that pretty throat. he tore a smile across your face, pushing himself to cum as deep inside you as he could. he groaned, eyelids twitching and buried in your cunt. he pumped himself a couple times, using you to the fullest. he dropped the knife on your bloodied-pink satin pillow, kissing you harshly.

he moaned into your teeth, it was like a fountain of blood pooling into his mouth from yours- it was perfect. the smell of sex and blood, perfect. the smile on his girl's face after fucking her to sleep, perfect.

you hiccuped as he rummaged through your stuff, not much use to him. lame diary, cheap jewelry, not many electronics other than the one with a hole in it beside you. he was getting hard again just at the sounds you were making, whining for round two. moaning from the pain.

"yeah yeah i'll be right there." he waved you off, palming himself through his boxers while emptying out bags and purses and wallets. when he was done, he caressed the side of your face as he slid his cock along your ruined face. the bloody slit that was your mouth did wonders, especially when he dug the blade into your chest and you started gurgling and bubbling. it felt fucking amazing. he's never had a girl like you. so perfect.

you soon went limp, arm dangling off the edge of the bed and dripping onto the fuzzy little carpet you had for your feet in the morning. the floors got cold, but you always forgot to put on your slippers. he sliced open your arm, just for fun. he peeled back the layers of skin and fat and bone and muscle, he's sorry he put you through all of this. his fingers wiggle between your nerves and tendons- jeff even wondered if he dug deep enough, pull on some strings, could he move your fingers around like a puppet? get you to jack him off even in death?

[swarmik]

“SuperCGA” and ATI Graphics Solution and GEM Desktop

8bit guy published a video about SuperCGA cards, which reminded me that this was a topic a recently dug into. I’ve never really worked with CGA/EGA monitors. When we had a computer at home for the first time in 1989, it was an IBM PS/2 Model 20 borrowed from dad’s office. That computer already had an on-board graphics chip that worked with VGA monitors. One year later, my family decided to buy our own computer. It was a 286 clone with an SVGA graphics card and an SVGA monitor able to show 1024×768 (interlaced though).

During the Bytefest (a vintage computer show in Czech Republic), one of the computers I brought there was an early Vienna 286. A friend of mine promised that he would have brought an EGA monitor, so I could try a card I bought just for this purpose – a Trident 8800CS (512KB). This Trident has both VGA and RGBI/TTL (CGA/EGA) outputs and can be switched to act like different IBM graphics chips. Sadly, the Trident card was ignoring the switches and always used VGA timing. It sent the signal always to both outputs but my EGA monitor was not able to sync 640×480 with 31kHz h-sync (as expected). We brought an oscilloscope, even made some modifications to the card, but nothing helped. When I asked in some groups, the only answer I got was that somebody tried the same thing on his Trident 8800CS with the same result.

Anyway, I also had the original ATI Graphics Solution card that was sold with the computer somewhere in 1987, so at least I had something else to play with. This is a very neat card. It has 64KB of video RAM and supports both CGA and Hercules modes. As I shown in the past, it even supports CGA modes on Hercules/MDA monitors using clever timing tricks. The card was used in the Hercules mode for the whole its life as the machine served in an electrical engineering lab for designing electric circuits. This was finally the time for me to switch it into the native CGA mode.

Seeing the CGA modes was not so interesting for me. However, the card supports also non-standard modes that can utilize the whole memory which is four times of what the IBM CGA has. The obvious choice was something that supports Plantronics ColorPlus which ATI supported like many other CGA-clone vendors. Yes, I tried Planet-X3 and Space Quest 3 in 320×200 with 16 colors. However, Planet-X3 is a modern game, and the Space Quest 3 uses a modern video driver to support this card (the original game did not have it). I was more interested in productivity apps. After seeing that GEM Desktop (sort of a Windows competitor) provides support for ColorPlus, I installed the whole bundle.

At the beginning, everything looked just like with CGA – black & white only. This was because the desktop environment does not use more colors there. On the other side, if I moved the mouse fast enough, it was visible that sometimes the cursor was ping instead of black for a moment. Thus, I knew that we were actually in the 4-color mode. After installing office programs, I was finally able to see all four colors in 640×200. Quickly after that I realized that among desktop accessories, there is a calculator that uses magenta as a background color. Anyway, I am happy that I also tried these office/productivity apps. From my point of view, they are gimmick. They look like they support everything but when you try to do something, you get the feeling that they were designed more to present the functionality of the desktop environment.

The ColorPlus had just 32KB of video RAM and my ATI Graphics Solution has 64KB, so it should be able to drive 640×200 in full 16 colors. I’ve checked the user guide for the card and indeed this mode was mentioned there. ATI manual says that there is support for it in AutoCAD, PC Paintbrush+, Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony and Framework II. I installed the PC Paintbrush+ as a bitmap editor can benefit the most from such a mode. The support for this card was built in the software so no extra drivers were needed. After selecting the mode, I was able to get the best out of a CGA 200-line monitor. What I really like, the bundled ATI driver disk contains a small example program to enable this mode (including its source code), so programmers could modify their own programs to get more than what a standard CGA offered.

Original article with hi-res photos: here

[5150metaverse]

Chapter One

The atmosphere inside the NYPD's Cyber Crime Unit was charged with a mix of anticipation and dread, palpable in the air as Detective Alex Johnson and his team gathered around a bank of high-resolution monitors. On one screen, the live feed from a security camera captured a harrowing scene - a young woman, her face contorted in sheer terror, clutched desperately at her chest. In a moment of chilling finality, she let out a guttural scream before crumbling to the ground, her lifeless body convulsing briefly before succumbing to stillness. Witnessing the horrifying event unfold, the onlookers around the woman scrambled in panic, seeking aid in the chaotic aftermath. With a grave expression, Detective Johnson turned to his team, his voice laced with solemnity as he delivered a stark warning, "This, my friends, is only the start of something far more sinister."

It wasn't long before Detective Johnson and his team started to receive an influx of troubling reports from various parts of the city, detailing incidents eerily similar to the one they were already investigating. Individuals were suddenly succumbing to what initially seemed like heart attacks or seizures, sending shock waves through the community. However, Detective Johnson's keen investigative instincts led him to delve deeper into the perplexing pattern emerging among the victims. A chilling revelation surfaced as he meticulously scrutinized each case: every single person who had tragically met their demise shared a common link. Prior to their untimely deaths, each victim had engaged with a specific video circulating on social media platforms by either sharing, liking, or viewing it mere hours before their fatal episodes. The chilling realization dawned on Detective Johnson that there was a malevolent force at play, one that used the innocuous guise of an online video to sow chaos and tragedy in its wake.

As the number of casualties continued to climb, Detective Johnson and his specialized investigative unit were tasked with delving into the perplexing case. Intensive scrutiny unearthed a significant lead - a digital trail led to a video linked to the enigmatic hacker cohort known as "The Collective." Intriguingly, every victim had some form of interaction with this group, tracing a sinister pattern. The revelation was stark and unsettling: an insidious creation had emerged in the form of an iPhone application dubbed "Kill Switch." Calculated and vengeful, an unknown entity was utilizing this app to exact retribution on individuals who had shared the incriminating footage of their clandestine collective. The team faced a race against time to decipher the intricate web of connections and unearth the mastermind behind this diabolical scheme before more lives fell prey to the lethal consequences of digital association.

As Detective Johnson and his seasoned team delved deep into the perplexing case, a sense of urgency pervaded their every move. The enigmatic question hung in the air like a dense fog: who could have engineered such a chilling crime, and how could they be apprehended before more innocent souls fell victim to the unknown assailant's sinister machinations? The gravity of the situation was unmistakable - they were confronted with a cunning adversary unlike any they had encountered in their years of service. In a society where the pervasive influence of technology cast a long shadow over traditional investigative methods, the team found themselves at a critical juncture. Time was of the essence as they raced against the clock to peel back the layers of deception, unearth the elusive truth shrouded in shadows, and put an end to the ruthless spree of violence that gripped the city in a vice-like grip. The unfolding investigation would test their mettle, resilience, and collective expertise as they endeavored to thwart the sinister designs of a faceless foe, striving to restore a semblance of order and justice to a community plunged into chaos and fear.

[laursenkorsholm39]

17 Greatest Free Bitcoin Mining Apps Crypto Miner Websites 2023

Aeternity is an open-source clever platform launched in January 2017. It aims to solve the scalability and safety issues that many cryptocurrencies face. As its blockchain has switched to the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, Ethereum can not be mined. Peek at additional info , or a Graphics Processing Unit, is mainly a graphics video card we use for things like watching movies or playing games on our computers. While technically mining can be done on a mobile phone, in follow it won't yield any outcomes and doubtless just heat up the phone’s CPU. Since then the physique of the apostle and the gravestone are preserved in the crypt of the Basilica. The story is provided by Giambattista De Lectis, doctor and writer of the sixteenth century of Ortona. After the looting, the navarca Ortona Leone went to pray in the principle church of the island of Chios and was drawn to a chapel adorned and resplendent with lights. An elderly priest, through an interpreter informed him that in that oratory was venerated the Body of Saint Thomas the Apostle. The navarca Leone reached out and took a bone from the biggest hole of the tombstone, on which were carved the Greek letters and a halo depicted a bishop from the waist up. He was the confirmation of what he had stated the old priest and that you are indeed within the presence of the Apostle's physique. Yet, probably the most power environment friendly bitcoin mining rigs are the Antminer S19 Pro, S19a Pro, and the S19j Pro, all of that are 29.5 watt per terahash (W/TH). It would be greatest to take into account greater than just a machine’s hashing power. Some ASIC fashions may be taken offline based on how profitable they are; profitability itself varies with Bitcoin’s price and problem. While these numbers are useful, you also wants to go forward and use a profitability calculator such as the one out there from Coinwarz before ordering to estimate your return in BTC. Realize that there are some operating expenses that include electrical energy prices, and mining pool fees. A good profitability calculator permits you to exactly calculate your ROI (return on investment). This particular miner just isn't on the Best Bitcoin Miner in 2021 listing however gets an honorable point out. The A1047 hashes as a lot as 37 TH/s and makes about $7/day after electrical energy of 6¢/kWh is deducted. It is better to pre-order the ASIC miners from the producer with delivery in a couple of months. Unfortunately, the manufactures’ web sites have their gear offered out too quick right after the announcement, so you must hold an eye fixed. You can view the S9 as the bigger brother of the marginally underpowered T9. The specification is totally similar to the T9 mannequin, however the S9 has 189 BM1387 ASIC chips as an alternative of 171. Technically this Bitcoin miner is extra power-efficient than the T9, consuming about zero.098J/GH. That is why the same APW3++ 1600W energy supply can even energy one AntMiner S9. Just the Chinardo admiral was conscious of the dear cargo moved all of the sailors of the Muslim religion on different ships and ordered him to take the route to Ortona. The sole recorded research done about the topic was throughout José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia's reign after the Independence of Paraguay. This is mentioned by Franz Wisner von Morgenstern, an Austro-Hungarian engineer who served in the Paraguayan armies prior and during the Paraguayan War. According to Von Morgenstern, some Paraguayan miners whereas working close by some hills on the Caaguazú Department found some stones with historic letters carved in them. Finder.com is an impartial comparison platform and knowledge service that aims to offer you the instruments you need to make higher decisions. The Bitmain Antminer L7 (9.5Gh/s) is doubtless certainly one of the finest Bitmain’s high-quality crypto mining hardware lineups. With its Scrypt algorithm and a maximum energy consumption of 3425W, this miner boasts spectacular efficiency. Released in November 2021, it has already generated important excitement in the market. However, what is “best” can rely upon different factors similar to electricity value and electrical setup. Another cryptocurrency utilizing public blockchain technology is Ethereum, which has similarities to bitcoin. Similar to Bitcoin, Ethereum is continuously mined to generate rewards within the type of Gas charges, transaction charges, and block rewards by a selection of miners around the globe. In truth, we contacted them about the sale of their G1 mini Grin miners last month, and have not yet obtained a response. However, like many other producers, their service center is positioned far away in China. Thus spare elements may be onerous to get ahold, and delivery costs are high. For example, one miner found that the fans were mounted the wrong means around after supply. This resulted in high inner temps and low hashing speed, but was simple to repair. An ASIC miner requires a variety of different components, some of which may be challenging to buy directly from manufacturers.

To perceive how powerful this ASIC miner is, its efficiency is equal to round eighty GTX 1660 Super GPUs, whereas consuming 5 instances much less power. The company operates customer-owned Bitcoin mining rigs on their behalf, taking a 15% commission for the service. Its new facility will get power from Itaipu Dam, the country’s largest hydroelectric dam. It depends on how a lot energy they use, and the value of electricity to run them. However, the block you closed and obtained a reward for is not yet confirmed. The block isn't confirmed till five blocks later when it has gone through that many validations. Each block incorporates the hash of the earlier block—so when the following block's hash is generated, the previous block's hash is included.

[bakarilennox]

The Syndicate Initiation

[I DO NOT CONSENT TO HAVE ANY OF MY WORK POSTED, TRANSLATED, OR PUBLISHED TO ANY THIRD PARTY SITE OR APP! IF ANY OF MY WORK IS SEEN ANYWHERE BUT HERE OR UNDER “Stories By Tre” ON AO3, IT HAS BEEN POSTED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!]

Pairing: Dark(er)!August Walker (John Lark) x Reader (No definitive feature other than the reader’s gender is mentioned)

Words: 2,279

Synopsis: You are the newest assassin for the syndicate and August Walker is assigned to shadow you. Until he reveals your true mission…

Warnings: 18+ content (MINORS DNI), Dub-Con(ish), SMUT, abuse of power dynamic, God complex, rough unprotected sex (don’t be silly, wrap ya willy), gun play, knife play, choking, mentions of Trypophobia, post-Ethan Hunt fight scarred August, Breeding kink, Anal, Hyperspermia, & mentions of death/murder. (I will switch between August Walker and John Lark because both of them are his alias, but August Walker is the more familiar/known one)

“Go again,” August commanded as you tried to regain your breath.

“Seriously?! I’ve been at it for the past two hours, I’m exhausted.” You huffed.

“Oh I’m sorry, do you think the IMF is going to just let you take a break as you try to murder them? Especially with that weak-ass stance?! GO. AGAIN. NOW!” August bellowed, his voice echoing against the walls of the training room.

You sucked your teeth at him as you got back into your fighting stance and began demonstrating your knife-fighting skills. You flipped the shiny metal blade from your holster and gripped the handle tightly as you started slashing away, breaking the sound barrier with each violent, yet calculated stroke. As you back flipped your way to perform ‘the kill’ you paused as you realized you were staring down the barrel of a gun…August’s gun.

Your breathing was shallow as you could clearly see the bullet in the chamber. This psychopath could’ve easily killed you in a split second and you wouldn’t have even known. You looked away from the barrel proving what you already knew, August Walker was the one pointing his gun at you. What made it even scarier was that he was smiling, like he wanted to do it, but for some reason he thought hesitating like this would cause you to be more fearful of him. And he was right as your pupils dilated and mouth left ajar.

“You act like you know so much, but you understand so little. I am the least of your fears, Little Mouse.” August teased.

The sight of his face riddled with scars and burns sent shivers down your spine. You hated it when he called you ‘Little Mouse’ You knew it was a power play, and no one else in the syndicate gave a shit. If anything, they felt you should feel honored to work under the one and only John Lark, former alias August Walker before he was burned, figuratively and literally by Ethan Hunt and the IMF. They all presumed he was dead and he wanted it to stay that way until, as August put it, ‘the time of peace arose’.

“If you were more focused on completing your task instead of performing theatrics, you would’ve seen this coming and acted accordingly,” August said, holding the pistol against your lips, “Open”, he calmly demanded.

You slowly parted your lips as August began to push the cold steel past your teeth. You shivered internally hearing and feeling the cold metal scrape against the enamel yet he continued to push the barrel further into your oral cavity so that you could taste it on your tongue. Your eyes widened slightly as he pulled the barrel out slightly only to push it back in repeating the motion in slow languid thrusts.  If you didn’t know any better, by the way he stared at your lips, you would think the sight captivated him, maybe even aroused him.

“Now suck, or I’ll blow your pretty little brains out.” August growled in your face.

You began to suck on the barrel of his gun as he drove it in and out of your mouth. The safety was still off, your life was literally in his hands and the small smirk on his face proved that he reveled in that fact. Beads of sweat trickled down his face rolling over the ridges, in and out of the deep pockmarks of his partially disfigured face. He was a bit hard to look at, but not any more difficult than the other members of the syndicate.

At this point your saliva coated his gun and he had moved so close that he was standing chest to chest with you. It dribbled down your chin and dropped down to your breasts that were barely covered by your sports bra. With his free hand he reached for his belt but paused when he realized your knife was already pointed at his crotch. His eyebrows furrowed as he took his gun out of your mouth.

“If you were more focused on completing your task instead of performing theatrics, you would’ve seen this coming and acted accordingly.” You mocked his earlier statement.

August ran his tongue across his teeth behind his lower lip and chuckled. The second you allowed a smirk to appear on your face, August swiftly wrapped his large hand around your neck. Your airway was nearly cut off by the viper-like motion paired with an overpowering grip that he possessed causing you to drop the knife from your hand.

As you were gasping for air and clawing at his wrist, his free hand untied the drawstring of your sweatpants. You were unable to speak a word, all you could do was whimper faintly. Once August had enough space, he slid his hand down and massaged your folds with the fabric of your cotton panties. You became lightheaded as you were close to passing out. The Syndicate leader released his grip from your throat and switched to grabbing the back of your head.

“Don’t pass out on me now Little Mouse, you need to be awake so you know your purpose,” August breathed into your face. 

The heat from his breath went straight to the growing arousal between your legs. Your eyes fluttered as your chest heaved up and down while regaining consciousness.

“My what?!” Your eyes narrowed at him.

August chuckled before he began, increasing the pace of his occupied hand. “There is a reason why you (italic) were chosen to be trained by me, why I had to keep you…close.”

Walker drew you closer to his lips. You tried to gravitate closer to his face to kiss him, but you were quickly turned around by August and slammed against the pommel horse that was in the middle of the equipment room. The impact caused a pain to shoot through your abdomen as you grabbed the bars on top to brace yourself.

Walker wasted no time removing your pants revealing your lace panties that barely covered your lower region. He smiled as he ripped them off without hesitation and used his thighs to spread your legs apart. He pressed himself against your exposed flesh, marking your wetness on his khaki pants. The feeling of his growing erection causes you to instinctively make a deeper imprint of your desire onto his fabric.

“Wha- what are you doing?” you whimpered.

“What we’re doing is creating the next recruits of The Syndicate. A legacy.” August sighed as he pulled himself out of his pants and rubbed his tip against your lubricated folds, grazing your clit as he did it. 

You moaned as he kept teasing you mercilessly, the lewd sounds becoming louder and louder until he fully sheathed himself inside of you. He growled as your warm, wet cavern gripped him tightly, his palms digging into your waist as he began thrusting roughly. The jerking motion made you hold onto the pommel rails even tighter to brace yourself.

“Yes, I knew you were the one.” August quickened his pace. “I need my seed inside of you, to fill you up. I need you to give me a child.” August pulled your hair back as your moans grew louder.

“But…Lark…anyone could…walk in…on us.” you moaned after each thrust.

“I could fuck you in front of the entire Syndicate if I wanted and no one would tell us shit! If anything, they would honor you…celebrate you…be in awe of you as I fill you with my seed.” August pounded into you harder as he held your arms back.

Your moans quickly became screams of pleasure, your lewd squelching filling in the pauses in between. Beads of August’s sweat fell from his brow onto your back as he hyper focused on his stroking. His grip tightened while he pinned your arms down on your back. His thrusts were inhibited and animalistic throughout your orgasm and then he filled your womb with what he hoped was the next generation of Syndicate recruits. He stopped, then quickly pulled himself out of you so he could catch his breath.

“Recite the manifesto.” August spoke in a lower octave.

Before you could even process what the Syndicate leader commanded, he spread one of your ass cheeks open and penetrated your unexplored cavern. As you began to scream from the unexpected pain, August quickly switched hands. One to hold you down and the other to cover your mouth as he pushed himself deeper inside of you. 

His overwhelming strength made your frame no match for him as you tried to resist this agonizing, yet slowly satisfying new feeling inside of you. You could hear your leader grunting and gasping as his shaft slowly disappeared inside of you, then you felt his warm breath as his teeth lightly grazed the helix of your ear before he spoke.

“I’ll let go, when you let go.” He repeats this in almost a chant as if to motivate you.

You relax your entire body when you reach the hilt of August’s dick, your ass clear pressed against his pelvis. August slowly pumped himself in and out of your ass and then he removed his hands from your mouth and your wrists on your back.

“Recite the manifesto, now!” August demanded as he ground into you at a steady pace.

You gasped before you began, gripping the bars of the pommel horse again. “There has never been peace without first a great suffering, the greater the suffering, the greater the peace.”

“Keep going.” He grunted.

“As mankind is drawn to his self-destruction like a moth to the candle, the so-called defenders of peace–” you yelped as Walker roughly thrusted inside of you.

“Don’t stop.” he held a strong grip on both sides of your ass, spreading you wide open.

You moaned as he grinds himself deeper inside of you. “The church, the government, the law – work tirelessly to save humanity from itself, but by averting…disaster, they serve to delay…a peace that can only come…through an inevitable baptism of fire.”

Your mind went blank as your orgasm washed over you, your legs were uncontrollably trembling as Walker kept thrusting through your orgasm dripping down your leg and your wetness slapping against his balls in a chaotic, steady rhythm.

“The suffering…” John Lark queued your next part to recite as he continued fucking you.

“The suffering I bring you is not the beginning of the end. It is the beginning of a greater…mutual understanding through common suffering. It is the first step towards the ultimate brotherhood of…man. The suffering I bring you is the bridge to ultimate peace.” you sucked in a shaky breath as you proceeded.

“Today, mankind has been handed the opportunity to escape his destiny, an otherwise…inevitable…conclusion to a thousand years of…intolerance and…fear. I call all rationalists…who can stand and join in the struggle…against the radical theists, all of which fall beneath a common umbrella of ideology. I-if we were to continue any further we would reach mythology and Aesop’s fables. When do we stop? OH GOD!” you exclaimed as another orgasm flowed out of you.

All that could be heard in the room was lewd sounds made from skin contact. Lark thrusted at a quicker, but still steady pace. “I’m so close, Y/N. Finish it!” He let out a guttural growl. 

You whined after he slaps your ass hard before you continued. “Any belief…in a spirituality…with no other proof…other than the cravings to…project one’s self over the-FUCK! …rational thinking of the others…must be era- AH! dicated as it does not only halt progression and development of the human mind and reach, but also hinders…it.”

You matched John Lark’s rhythm, giving into him the more his pace picked up. You were fully used to his endowment and you wanted every advantage of it. The confidence in your voice raised as you continued. “Here I will emphasize clearly…that the judgment…upheld…against us…will be one of human hands, not of a god…or other worldly being… Part of the absurd rationale is what leads to the obscure justifications…the believers place upon their own disgraceful…and belligerent behavior.”

You moaned again as you bit down on your bottom lip. You look back at August with a sense of satisfaction plastered on your face. August smirked before he held you up by both your arms as he thrived in an animalistic manner. “Finish it! I want to hear it all before I cum!”

You wasted no time finishing the manifesto as your final orgasm was approaching. “No! The loss of human life cannot and will not be justified! For this is not the taking of human lives… They are merely puppets! Hollow shells that were once human beings. Brainwashed by stories…and tales of old…their weak minds have been overpowered…by the pressure placed on them by other lifeless puppets And so, the cycle continues!” 

“AHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!” You and August exclaimed in orgasmic ecstasy, surrendering to the carnal nature of the mission. August pulled your head back by your neck as he stared into your eyes. “You have no idea how long I wanted to fill your tight, little ass and watch it drip down to your sweet pussy. You will bear my children and fulfill my destiny. Our destiny! The future of the Syndicate will live on through you and I…as long as you never deny me, I will never deny you.”

In a twisted sense of adoration for him, you leaned in and you both kissed each other and then you heard clapping from the upper rafters of the gymnasium. All of the members of the Syndicate were present the entire time and once the clapping stopped they all exited the viewing room.

Author’s Note: If you have made it this far, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my work. If you enjoy this story, I have a few more on my Masterlist available to read. Once again, thank you for reading and I hope you stay healthy and moisturized.

[badboyjuyeon]

me plus you

Pairing: Eric x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 4.6k

Summary: You have to tutor Eric in calculus, but you’re struggling in calculus and Eric doesn’t actually need help.

This was not happening. You rubbed your eyes again as if that was going to change the 0/100 that you received from missing your latest calculus quiz. It didn’t matter how many A’s you got in your past quizzes, a zero would definitely damage your grade. You shoved the test in your bag and made your way towards the teacher’s desk. 

“I missed yesterday’s class so I had no idea that I missed this quiz. Is there any way that I can make this up?” You asked your teacher, hoping that she might spare some pity and excuse this quiz. This was out of character for a straight-A student like yourself and you knew that she had a soft spot towards you. 

“Unfortunately, it was a unit quiz and you missed it. If you read the syllabus, it explicitly states that there are no make-up opportunities...” She began in a stern voice which eventually turned softer when she noticed the panicked look on your face. “...But knowing how you have always done well in this class, I would be willing to offer extra credit if you join the tutoring center.” 

“Consider it done!” You gave your best fake smile as you tried not to think of all the free time you were about to lose. It was your fault, after all, for sleeping in on the day you knew you would have the quiz. Maybe you turned off your alarm because you were struggling in the last few classes and scared to receive a failing grade. Maybe you closed your eyes for “five more minutes” because you didn’t know how to ask for help since you’ve never needed to before. 

As you turned to leave, you noticed Eric Sohn push his way from the back of the classroom. He avoided eye contact with the teacher as if that would make him invisible.

“Eric I would like to meet with you.” Your teacher called out to him as he had one foot out of the doorway. 

“Aww man, I was so close to escaping.” He muttered under his breath. You bit back a smile at his comment and watched him step back into the classroom. You brushed past him as you left to go sign up for the tutoring center. Eric envied you for being able to walk free, while he was going to be stuck getting yelled at. 

“Eric, you’ve been failing all of the recent quizzes. I spoke with your coach and we agreed that you can’t play on the team unless your grades improve.” She shook her head in disappointment. 

Eric could not believe what he was hearing. All his practice would have gone towards nothing. He could feel his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player slip away, all because of this one stupid class. “I promise I’ll do better on the next one, just please let me stay on the team.” 

Your teacher sighed, “You said that the last time. You still haven’t taken up my recommendation of going to the tutoring center. Another peer might be able to help you better. If your next few grades improve after tutoring, then we’ll talk.” 

Eric headed towards the library during his lunch period, which he never would have done under any other circumstance. He preferred to be outside playing basketball with his friends than being cooped up in the library. After signing his name, he sat down on an empty table and waited to be assigned to a tutor. When he tried to look for another familiar name on the tutor list, he noticed yours scribbled neatly with your perfect font-like handwriting. You’ve probably never failed a quiz in your life, let alone the past few quizzes. Eric groaned. How did he let himself slip up in this class? He had a pretty high GPA, but this class was dragging it down from its highest potential. 

He flipped through the notebook he dedicated to calculus and was met with empty pages. If only he didn’t stay up late studying for his other classes, he would have been able to pay attention during this class. But resting his eyes always seemed like a much better option. 

“Eric? Hi, I’ll be your new calc tutor.” Eric looked up to see you pull out the seat across from him. He let out a sigh of relief because you were not a complete stranger and you always got the highest grades. He would be back on the team in no time. He shot you a smile and his eyes formed crescent moons.

You returned his smile but it was only momentary, and it left as quickly as it came. “Can I tell you a secret?” You fidgeted with your fingers. 

Eric was unsure of what to make of your sudden question. He nodded his head to encourage you to continue. 

“I have no idea what’s going on in class.” You admitted to him, though this was not something you told anyone else. 

Eric let out a laugh, you had to be joking. “Don’t you need an A in this class to be a tutor?” 

“Yeah, I just always get my work done on time. My grade doesn’t reflect my understanding of the material but how well I can cheat on all of my assignments.” Upon seeing his confused face, you chose to elaborate. “I usually use photomath, that’s the only way I’ve been passing.” 

Eric’s mouth parted in shock. Why didn’t he think of using that app himself? He also couldn’t believe that you were struggling in that class. “Then I’m not crazy, she just really can’t teach. That’s why I haven’t been understanding anything.” 

“It’s not you, it’s her.” You assured him. “But can I still ‘tutor’ you because that would be the only way to make up for my last quiz?” You hoped that your desperation wasn’t too obvious. 

Eric studied your face, he never had any chance to talk to you this long. Your features were tainted with stress. He could tell that your grades mattered and that he was the only person that could help you. It wouldn’t hurt to spend a little time outside of class with you, it’s not like he had baseball practice to take away his free time. 

“Sure, I’m going to need these lessons to explain why I’m suddenly going to do amazing in this class after I start using photomath.” 

Your face lit up when you heard him accept and it was enough to ensure that he made the right choice. 

“How bad did you do on the last quiz?” Eric still couldn’t believe that you were not the nerd that he thought you were. Teachers always used your work for examples of model work and that was the only impression he had of you prior to this tutor session.

“I got a 0 because I missed class that day.” You looked away in embarrassment. The bright red 0 was still easily visible on your crumpled-up test. 

Eric placed his test marked with 65/100 next to yours. “Well I didn’t pass even though I was in class, so we can try to work on it together.”

You flipped to the chapter that the quiz was on and turned the textbook sideways so that he could also see. The library was mainly empty save for you two because the weather was nice and everyone would much rather go outside for lunch. Your table was positioned right near the window, and Eric had the perfect view of all of his friends playing baseball on the school field. He could have been there if he didn’t slack off this bad. 

No matter how many times you read the page, you still couldn’t quite get the concept down. No other class had you stuck like this one. While you were stuck rereading, Eric started attempting the first problem on his quiz. He finished in a matter of seconds and you took out photomath, a calculator app that solves literally everything, to check if it’s the same answer. 

You couldn’t hide the look of shock on your face when the answer on your screen matched the one on his paper. “Eric I didn’t know that you were a genius. You have to teach me how to do this.” 

Eric’s face also matched yours as he was also surprised at himself. He never even thought to attempt the problems before. 

“I don’t really know what I did.” He confessed but tried to walk you through his thought process. Hearing him explain the steps allowed you to think of the problem in an entirely different way and it was the only thing you needed to understand how to solve it. Your face still expressed the initial shock, but now you felt more impressed than surprised. 

Eric laughed at the irony, here he was tutoring you instead of the other way around. “I’ll have you know that just because I’m a sports guy doesn’t mean that I’m an airhead.” 

“And having A’s doesn’t exactly mean that I’m a nerd. I knew you weren’t an airhead, but sleeping during class didn’t exactly make you look the smartest.” You teased him, before asking him the real question that was plaguing your mind. “You picked it up so quickly, why did you fail the last few quizzes?” 

He switched his gaze from the paper to look straight into your eyes. “Honestly, I didn’t have any motivation to actually do the quizzes. I thought that I was screwed since I kept sleeping during class. And I have to sacrifice some classes to do better in the rest.” He answered, before moving on to the next problem. 

With him facing towards the paper, you took note of his perfect side profile. His eyebrows were furrowed as he thought about how to solve the question. Wow, his jawline was sharp and you were getting sidetracked.

Using his method, you were able to breeze through the problems. You were the type of student to follow the book, word for word, while Eric was the opposite. He was carefree and just did what he felt like, and it worked. You would’ve never thought to experiment like he did but it was exactly what you needed to do. 

“Wait I don’t get how to do these last few problems.” He interrupted you from your thoughts and you leaned closer to get a better view of the problem. You checked the steps to solve the problem from photomath and figured out how to solve it. 

While you were explaining the problem to him, Eric suddenly became aware of the short proximity between the two of you. His eyes traced your features and they subconsciously drifted towards your lips. He wondered whether they felt as soft as they looked, in a totally platonic way, of course. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. 

“That’s why you use this- Eric? Were you even listening?” You turned to face him after he stopped being responsive. Eric felt the blood rush to his cheeks. He quickly scanned the paper and pretended that he was paying attention all along. “Yeah I was listening, I understand it.” 

You spent the rest of the period working together to get through the quiz. You two were in your own world and you wouldn’t have noticed how much time went by if the library didn’t become loud, signaling the end of the period, as students transitioned between classes. The period never felt this short. 

“We are quite the team,” Eric said as you packed up your things. 

“Surprisingly, we are. Let’s meet up again at the same time next week.” You waved at him and rushed to get to your next class. 

“See you in class.” Eric watched as you left the library and looked forward to the next time he would see you.

Upon entering calculus class the next day, Eric searched for your face. He found you sitting in your usual seat near the window. Your head was down on the desk, unaware that he was approaching you. 

“Is this seat taken?” You lifted your head to see Eric gesturing to the seat next to you. You shook your head, confused as to why he decided to sit next to you instead of the back of the classroom. 

You didn’t have to worry about saving a seat for a friend because calculus was the one class that you didn’t share with any friends. You didn’t realize it until now but none of the boys you saw Eric hang out with were in this class either. At least you two would have each other now.

“Isn’t it easier to sleep in the back of the classroom?” You questioned.

“It is, but it's easier to cheat- I mean learn next to you.” He said with a cheeky grin. 

Your teacher walked in, cutting off your small talk. 

You took out your calculus textbook and notebook while you waited for the teacher to begin. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Eric scribble something on the last page of his notebook. When the teacher turned around to write on the chalkboard, he slid his notebook over to you and tapped you. 

i forgot my textbook in my locker, can i look over on yours? 

You pushed your textbook towards him and positioned it in between you two. He mouthed a quick “thanks.” 

Your teacher began explaining the new concept and you almost forgot about Eric’s presence next to you as you copied down everything that was on the board. 

“Wait, is that a four or a nine?” You whispered, trying to decipher the messy handwriting. When you heard no response from Eric, you turned to look at him for the first time since class had started. Eric’s head was resting on the palm of his hand and his eyes were closed shut. He did not just leave you to fend for yourself. You nudged his hand and his head fell onto the desk with a loud thud. 

Your teacher briefly turned around to call out whoever was interrupting her lesson but you resumed writing and Eric pretended to read the textbook page extremely closely. After she faced the board again, Eric raised his eyebrows at you, as if to ask why you disrupted his sleep. Not wanting to draw attention again, you passed him a note.

pay attention if you want the teacher to like you, trust me it works.

easier said than done, teacher’s pet.

Eric waited for you to read his note before he stuck his tongue out at you. 

You were going to deny being the teacher’s pet when you were interrupted by Hyunjae, who sat on your other side. “Can you help me with number 1?”

“Uh sure.” You responded, despite wanting to work with Eric. You glanced back at Eric, but he began working on the new problem set by himself. 

Though Eric’s eyes were focused on the paper in front of him, his ears couldn’t help but listen to your conversation with Hyunjae.  

“You’re a lifesaver, thank you so much. Can I pay you back with bubble tea after school?” Hyunjae gave you a flirtatious smile. 

Eric’s grip on his pen tightened. He convinced himself that he was only annoyed because he didn’t know how to solve the problem.

“I would never say no to free bubble tea.” You checked to see if Eric was listening from your peripheral vision once again, but he seemed to be disinterested. You weren’t sure why you kept looking back at Eric, maybe you wanted to see if he would object. Or maybe you wanted him to object. But he made no such move to stop you. 

Hyunjae beamed. “Great, let’s meet up after class. And maybe we can study for the next test together?”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Were you just trying to bribe me with bubble tea?”

Eric’s head was facing downwards as he tried to hide his feelings of betrayal. The nerve Hyunjae had to steal his study partner. 

“And if I was?” Hyunjae challenged.

“That was a smart way to bribe me, you might not even need to study with how smart you are.” You answered. 

Eric slammed his pen down, causing you and Hyunjae to look at him. 

“Oops, it slipped.” He blurted, feeling satisfied because he interrupted Hyunjae. 

The bell rang and you rushed to copy down the homework into your planner. 

“Do you want to work on the homework together?” Eric suggested while packing up his things. “I didn’t know how to do the third set of problems.” He added in, hoping that it would convince you to work together. 

“I don’t know, I’m in high demand these days. Everyone wants to study with me.” You flaunted. Of course you would study with him, you just wanted to make him work for it. Eric rushed to follow you out of the classroom.

“Pretty please.” He pouted and gave you puppy eyes. You snorted at his attempt of acting cute, which he didn’t even need to do since he was naturally cute. 

“Okay fine, but only if you stop doing that hideous face.” You stopped to open your locker. 

Eric leaned on the locker next to yours and crossed his arms. “No one can resist this sexy face.” 

“Yeah okay.” You replied in a sarcastic tone, though you secretly agreed with him. You took a pen out of your locker and grabbed his hand. Eric held his breath and watched to see what you would do next. You wrote your phone number on the palm of his hand. “Text me. Or facetime me, whatever works for you.” You shut your locker and headed to your next class.

Eric stared at your number on his hand and smiled to himself, his heart still racing from when you touched him. 

While you walked away, you felt proud that you were able to pull that move off. But then the color drained from your face. You never said what time. The power rested entirely on Eric and when he decided to contact you. That means that you would have to wait and possibly be camera-ready all day. 

As soon as Eric got home from school, he entered your phone number and saved your contact. He wondered whether he would seem too eager if he texted you right away. You were probably still studying with Hyunjae. Eric scoffed as he thought about how Hyunjae was there instead of him. 

You stared at the black screen on your phone. Tapping on it for the millionth time, the screen read 8:15 pm. Why didn’t you specify a time? You dived for your phone every time you saw your phone light up with a notification. 

Was he even going to facetime you? You glanced around your room in horror. You weren’t able to fix it when you rushed out of the house this morning. You could not let Eric see this mess. You got to work fixing your room while you waited for him to text you. Hearing the familiar vibration, you reached for your phone, hoping it wasn’t another spam email. 

hey, it’s eric. are you free to ft and work on the hw rn? 

Eric sent the text and threw his phone on the bed. He had spent 15 minutes debating whether his text was too casual. Hugging his pillow, he anxiously waited for you to respond. 

yea i’m free

You checked your room once again to see if anything was out of place. Then you saw your reflection in the mirror. You were so caught up in fixing your room, you forgot to fix your appearance. You quickly applied something on your lips so you wouldn’t look too bad. 

After sitting down in front of a lamp so you would have optimal lighting, you picked up his facetime call. 

“Hey.” You felt your breath hitch in your throat. His hair was still wet from the shower he took just earlier. You didn’t think it was possible for him to get any hotter. 

“So how was your date with Hyunjae.” He didn’t even try to hide the bitterness in his tone. Wow, real smooth Eric. He should’ve waited a bit longer to bring it up, but he couldn’t help it. 

You laughed at his choice of a conversation starter. “It wasn’t a date, and it was actually very fun. Maybe I need to start charging you for my services. I’ll only accept payment with bubble tea from now on.” 

“Spending quality time with me is your payment.” He replied with a smug look on his face.

You shook your head. “That is not enough, I fear.” 

Eric crossed his arms and tried to look offended. “I’ll hang up right now then.” 

“Need I remind you that you were the one that begged me to help you today?” You spoke matter-of-factly. “But if you must leave, go. I’m very busy you know.” 

“Busy studying with other guys? I thought we had something special.” He dramatically clutched his heart. 

“You wish, you are yet another one of my side hoes.” 

“Your main hoe being boba?” He raised an eyebrow.

You paused to think of a witty response. “It seems you are more interested in my love life than those calculus problems you needed help with.” 

“Those problems can wait.” He shrugged his shoulders. 

“Fine, how about this? For every problem you get correct, you can ask me a question and I’ll answer it honestly.” You proposed. 

Eric smiled widely. “I like how you think. And what happens if I get them wrong?” 

“Then I get to ask you a question.” You replied. 

“You won’t be able to ask me any questions.” His cockiness was apparent from how confidently he spoke. “The first solution is 5.” 

Checking the answer to the first problem, you confirmed that it was 5.

“Since this is about your love life, do you have a boyfriend?” He asked, desperately wanting you to say no. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Yes, I do have one.” You watched for Eric’s reaction. Eric’s smile dropped for a split second as he registered what you said. 

“Oh really? Who? Do I know him?” He interrogated, completely dropping his previous act. 

You felt amused watching him squirm. “That’s three other problems you have to get right.” 

To your surprise, Eric continued to get the next three problems correct.

“So who is your boyfriend?” He phrased carefully.

“Hyunjae.” You said with a straight face.

Eric’s eyes grew 10 times the size they were. “Really?”

“Nah, I’m just playing. I don’t have a boyfriend.” You finally revealed the truth. 

That definitely made Eric happier than he’d like to admit. 

“You just made me waste two questions.” He emphasized by holding up two fingers. 

“Did you even need help with those problems Eric?” 

“Yes...but I figured them all out while you were flirting with Hyunjae.” He looked away from the screen. 

“I was not flirting with Hyunjae.” You lied. You did flirt a little, but that was only because you wanted to see if Eric got jealous. 

Eric rolled his eyes, not believing you. “Sure you weren’t.” 

“You have not seen me flirt, believe me, you would know.” You told him honestly. If you were going to flirt with anyone, it would be him. 

Eric’s smile returned once again. “I look forward to seeing that.” 

You and Eric fell into a routine where you met up every week to study calculus. And then facetimed after school. And then texted at night. You would work together during class, and Eric would get annoyed every time Hyunjae tried to join. 

You and Eric were prepared for the next calculus quiz and your efforts paid off. As soon as Eric got his quiz back, his first thought was to see the look on your face when he told you his grade.

At the end of class, Eric proudly dangled his quiz in front of your face, he couldn’t contain the smile on his face. 

You saw a large A on the top of the first page and you pulled him into a hug. Before you could regret acting so spontaneously, Eric hugged you back just as tightly. This was the first time you both hugged, but it felt so comforting and you didn’t want to let go. “Wow I’m so proud of you, I can’t believe you’re scoring higher than me.” You said when you finally pulled away.

“I’m coming for your throne.” Eric winked at you.

After consistently doing well in the classwork, Eric realized that he didn’t need help anymore. The tutoring sessions eventually became an excuse to meet you. 

Eric pointed at a problem, his eyes trained on yours, “Can you explain this to me?” 

“Eric, you literally taught me how to solve this.” You giggled.

“Oh, did I? Um...well I forgot. Explain it to me again?” You could never resist Eric’s puppy-dog eyes. The more time you spent with him, the more you realized how cute he was. 

“Graph this equation.” Eric had randomly said one day while you were studying at the library. 

You stared at the equation he wrote and looked back at him with confusion. “How is this relevant to calculus?”

“Just do it.” He whined. 

You reached for your graphing calculator and entered the equation. 

Staring at the shape the equation produced, you were pleasantly surprised to see that it resembled...“A heart?” 

You looked up to see Eric grinning from ear-to-ear, clearly proud that he was able to find this equation.

“Very cute Eric. This is why you urgently needed to meet up today?” You raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, that and I needed to talk to you about something else. My coach told me that the improvement in my grades is enough for me to rejoin the team.” Eric started, unsure of whether he should tell you that he didn’t need tutoring anymore. 

“Oh really? That’s great news!” You kept your eyes focused on the paper. You knew that him joining the team would mean your tutoring sessions would have to come to an end soon. “I’m guessing you won’t have time to study anymore.”

Eric knew that he wanted to see you every day, but he didn’t want to pretend that he only wanted to meet you under the pretense of studying. He took a deep breath before speaking. You brought your eyes to meet his when you realized that something must have been up. Eric was never quiet for this long. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to continue meeting up outside of school hours, just us two,” Eric asked hesitantly, waiting for your response. 

Your eyes widened. Was he asking you out? It’s not a complete reach because you two have been spending a lot of time “studying.” You were afraid that you were taking his words in the wrong way. “You want to study outside?” 

“Oh...no, no studying. It would just be us meeting up outside, no calculus.” He looked at the floor. 

“Eric Sohn, are you asking me out on a date?” You asked him. 

“Only if you’re comfortable with that. I’ve liked you for a while and I didn’t really need help anymore but I still want to see you often. I understand if you don-”

You cut off his rambling with a kiss. You resisted the urge to laugh at how red his ears were when you pulled away. “I like you too. Finally you can buy me my long-deserved boba.” 

[inkedstarlight]

Bittersweet: Chapter Twelve

Summary: With the New Year comes new changes: Azriel and Elain are now together, Nesta and Cassian have a moment, and someone new enters the mix. Notes: This was the longest I've gone without posting new content, but I'm back in the groove. I'm officially making Sundays my upload day, so look out for that! There will be a new chapter every week. I already have the next couple chapters written, and it will be a lot more consistent now. Read it here on AO3! Warnings: very brief mentions of PTSD and sexual assault Bittersweet Masterlist

January

It was the third week of the desolate, grey month of January. The snow arrived quickly and ruthlessly. The city of Boulder was coated in a thick layer of knee-deep snow, its surface glittering under the sun enough to blind a passerby. Nesta embraced the winter, but there was nothing more she hated than a frozen ground paired with a sunny sky. Going outside bundled in multiple layers only to return home a sweaty mess. It was a suffocating feeling, to be wearing a heavy coat under sunshine.

No, Nesta preferred the unforgiving version of the coldest season. She knew how to dress; she knew what to expect when she stepped outside. It was predictable. Easy.

With the New Year came new changes. To start, Elain and Azriel were now dating, which came as a surprise to no one. When Elain sidled up next to Nesta in the kitchen on New Year’s Day and bashfully told her that she and Azriel were officially together, Nesta just levelled her a look as if to say, No shit, Sherlock.

As much as she despised the fact that their lives were becoming inextricably connected with Feyre's little group, however, Nesta was happy for her sister. Azriel treated Elain like she walked on water. of course, in Nesta's mind, no one would ever be good enough for her sister. Azriel was just managing to wiggle his way over Nesta's impossibly high standards for Elain, the bastard.

He had been spending time at their apartment quite a bit. At first, he and Nesta didn’t speak much. They would both stare at their phones in silence when Elain went to the bathroom or checked on whatever was in the oven at the time.

It wasn’t until the day that Nesta returned home from work to see Azriel playing with Minx in the living room did they 'bond.' When Nesta made her way into the apartment, Azriel explained to her that Elain was switching over the laundry in the complex’s basement. She merely nodded, her piercing stare falling to Azriel's ankles where Minx was rubbing against. She could hear his purrs from where she stood. The fucking traitor.

Nesta watched them play before they began to talk about animals, which turned into shitting on Cassian (Azriel was most certainly joking, but Nesta’s jabs were 100% genuine), which then turned into complaining about the frequency of their little family dinners. Turns out Azriel isn't exactly a social butterfly but Nesta figured that out pretty quickly. When Elain returned with laundry basket in hand, she found Nesta showing off the tricks she’d taught Minx to Azriel, the latter of whom was quite impressed. And that’s how Nesta realized that she and Azriel had more in common than she would've guessed. They both preferred to be in the background, not drawing too much attention to themselves. To Nesta's delight, she also realized Azriel had just as sharp a tongue as she did. The only difference was he knew how to control himself. Although Nesta would never admit it, she could learn a thing or two from Azriel.

But all this was heavily dampened by the fact that Cassian kept worming his way into her life. She supposed it was normal to run into your neighbors, but she had a sneaking suspicion the man somehow memorized her entire schedule. Wherever she turned, he seemed to be there. The elevator was like their rendezvous spot. Nesta was tempted to take the staircase just to avoid him, but her stubborn ass refused to change a thing for him. Even if it was just two flights of stairs.

Cassian had caught her several times in the past weeks. She thought back to a few run-ins that she hadn’t managed to stop thinking about.  

“It’s full,” Nesta said dryly, not bothering to look up from her phone. She knew who it was. Who else would go out of their way to enjoy her warm and welcoming presence?

Nesta was just getting back from a short shift she'd picked up at Rita’s. The elevator doors had been closing when Cassian’s foot shot out to stop them.

Cassian looked around at the empty elevator, his eyes finally landing on Nesta. “I think I can squeeze in.”

Nesta looked up from her phone to glare at him. He was wearing a maroon crew neck and medium wash jeans that were rolled up at the ankles. She spied a golden chain around his neck that just slightly peaked out of the sweater. She wondered if it was a cross. Was he religious?

Nesta caught herself before she could think more about it. She didn’t care; she had no interest in getting to know this man. And she knew the feeling was mutual.

She just cleared her throat and looked down at her phone once again, determined to ignore his presence.

Unfortunately, Cassian was just as determined to make his presence known.

Eyes glued to her screen, Nesta did her best to stay as still as possible as she felt Cassian walk into the elevator. She was standing at the back corner, practically a part of the wall herself. Instead of stopping where there was plenty of room, however, he kept walking until he was right next to her. He leaned back against the wall, and Nesta caught a whiff of his cologne. It was warm and fresh and purely male.

She clenched her fist. He smelled good.

She hated that he smelled good.

"Calculating something?" he asked quietly. Nesta detected the amusement in his voice and restrained herself from putting him in a chokehold.

But she followed his gaze that was looking at her phone screen. Brows furrowed, she too looked at the screen.

Fuck.

Nesta hadn't even realized she'd been staring at the calculator app this entire time. When Cassian had gotten into the elevator, she'd opened a random app, a last-ditch attempt at looking busy so he wouldn’t bother her. That plan had clearly failed.

And with her shit luck, she opened the fucking calculator app.

"Yep," she cleared her throat again, scrambling for something to say. "Just figuring out how much it would cost to hire a bodyguard. You see, I have this stalker -"

"Is he handsome?" Cassian feigned ignorance, his lips twitching upward.

Nesta gritted her teeth at his interruption. "No, he's actually - "

"Charming, rugged, good-looking?" Cassian ran his eyes up and down her body and whistled in astonishment. "Wow, you must really like this guy."

She was going to punch him in the gods-damn throat. “You’re an asshole.”

He just stood there smiling at himself, eyes sparkling with mischief. His dark hair was loose, falling at his shoulders. It looked as though he’d been running his hands through it all day. Nesta’s fingers twitched.

She could acknowledge that Cassian was a good-looking man. She wasn't blind, though she would never admit that to him. His head was big enough as is. That being said, there was no appeal beyond his thick hair and fit body. It was a shame, really. Not to mention that Nesta was unable to look at a man with anything other than cynicism after everything that happened with Tomas.

Nesta stopped herself. She didn't need to think about that right now.

Coming back to reality, Nesta realized she'd been blatantly staring at Cassian this entire time, and it hadn't gone unnoticed. He chuckled deeply and angled his body so he was fully facing her. “See something you like, sweetheart?”

Nesta crossed her arms and snorted. Classy.

“Unfortunately for you, my appetite for arrogant meatheads dissipated during college.”

“Oh?” Cassian repeated with a smirk that Nesta wanted to slap right off. “And pray tell, what’s on your menu now?”

“Just the sweet satisfaction of destroying a man’s masculinity.”

Cassian stared at her for a moment before throwing his head back with laughter. Nesta rolled her eyes just as the elevator dinged. She took the opportunity and quickly raced for the doors.

He was still laughing when the doors closed.

Nesta inwardly groaned at the memory. She’d acted like a dolt, but at least she’d gotten the last word in.

The next time they bumped into each other, however, things weren’t quite as playful.  

Nesta couldn’t sleep. She’d been tossing and turning for hours, Minx shooting her glares every time she moved. But sleep refused to come.

With a frustrated groan, she rolled to the side of the bed and checked her phone that was charging on her nightstand.

3:38am.

Fucking ridiculous.

Nesta couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten a good night’s sleep. She’d been having nightmares nearly every night for the past few weeks, only managing to get about four hours of sleep at most. It was enough that she could function during the day and go to work without passing out. Nevertheless, it was exhausting.

She did her best to untangle herself from the comforter and get up without waking Minx. He was sleeping at the foot of the bed, his entire body stretched out like dough. As she got up, she gave him some love. He didn’t even budge; he was a heavy sleeper.

Nesta couldn’t help but feel jealous.

Rubbing her face, she padded out to the kitchen slowly and poured herself a glass of water. She drank it slowly as she leaned against the counter.

After fifteen of staring into space, Nesta made her way to the fridge and opened it, the soft light glowing on her face.

She stared into the fridge for another ten minutes.

With a resigned sigh, Nesta slowly padded back to her room and closed the door behind her. She lazily pulled her long hair into a messy updo. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her laundry bin. It was overflowing.

She checked the time again. 4:17am.

Fuck it, she thought to herself as she bent down to pick up the laundry basket.

Nesta heaved it into her arms, grabbed the detergent, and made her way down to the complex’s basement where the laundry room was. She was wearing a grey sweater that completely swallowed her body and baggy sweatpants. Her slippers were cat themed. She couldn't care less.

After dumping her dirty clothes into the washing machine and starting it, Nesta sat on top of the empty machine to the left of it. She crossed her legs in her lap and put her hands in her face.

Gods, when was this going to end?

She would almost prefer a nightmare over this. It was the silence that was insufferable. With nightmares, she woke up, stayed awake for a couple hours, and finally fell asleep once her body calmed. But this? She didn’t trust herself to be alone with her thoughts for the entire night. It was never a good thing.

She was just sick of it. The exhaustion, the darkness, the loneliness. Her father’s death still gnawed at her every day. She hadn’t summoned the bravery to read those damn journals. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t know if she’d ever be.

And then Tomas. That horrible memory still surfaced several times a day. She couldn’t shake it; she never felt safe, even when she was in her bedroom. She hated it. Hated the lack of control, the loss of strength. She felt powerless. And without that, what did she even have?

The sound of footsteps disrupted her from her thoughts. Her head shot up as a body filled the doorway to the laundry room. It was Cassian.

He, too, looked like he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. He looked comfortable in his Nine Inch Nails t-shirt and dark joggers. In his hand was a dryer sheet.

He stared at her. She stared back.

Neither of them said anything as he walked over to the washing machine to the right of the one her clothes were in. Nesta watched with half-lidded eyes as Cassian switched over his load of laundry to the dryer, swiping his card to pay for the cycle.

Once his clothes were tumbling around in the dryer, he straightened and faced her where she sat.

Nesta couldn't put her finger on it, but he seemed different. Not because it was the middle of the night and he was tired. No, there was something else. She just didn't know what.

“Can’t sleep?” he broke the silence, voice rough with exhaustion.

Nesta pursed her lips and nodded, looking away. She expelled a shaky breath. “You?”

Cassian seemed slightly taken aback by her question, but he hid it well. He took a few steps closer. There were still a couple feet between them, but now he was standing in front of her with his hands in his pockets.

“Me neither," he murmured, his hazel eyes capturing her grey ones. "Sometimes I don't even bother trying anymore."

They both got quiet. Nesta didn’t know what to say; his vulnerability scared her.

It was strange. To have a conversation with Cassian without banter, without insults being thrown back and forth. Nesta didn’t know what to think of it.

"I could be deported any day," he admitted, so quietly that Nesta almost didn't hear. Then he added, his voice breaking slightly, "I don't want to go."

Nesta watched him as he looked to the dirty tiles of the laundry room floor. Her lips parted slightly and before she realized what she was doing, she was talking.

"I have nightmares every night. Today was the first time in two months I haven't had one. A strange part of me would rather have horrible dreams instead of this silence... and that scares me."

Cassian was staring at her now, his eyes flaring. He looked like he wanted to move closer, but he remained where he stood. He simply nodded at the piece of herself she'd just shared with him.

I see you, is what he seemed to wordlessly say to her.

A strange feeling of deja vu washed over Nesta as they looked at each other. She couldn't place it, but this - talking with Cassian - felt familiar, like it had happened -

The washing machine next to Nesta dinged, signaling that her clothes had finished. She pulled her gaze from Cassian's and hopped off to switch her clothes over.

Cassian merely watched. Then, they both waited in a comfortable silence until their laundry finished drying. Cassian's finished first, but he waited until Nesta's did to walk her back up. They didn't share a word, but something intangible transpired between them.

And even though Nesta still wasn't able to fall asleep, the silence felt a bit less scary the rest of the night.

---------------------------

“Are you excited for the semester to start next week?”

Nesta froze from where she stood washing the dishes when Elain posed the question.

Next week? That couldn’t be right. Nesta counted off the days in her head.

To her horror, Elain was correct.

It was nearing the end of January. She knew she’d had to return to Pryth U after winter break, but Nesta thought she’d have longer. Longer to get over what had happened, to figure out how exactly to avoid him on campus. She thought by now… she thought she wouldn’t be scared anymore.

She was wrong.

“Nesta?”

Nesta peeled her eyes away from the soapy knife that she was clutching tightly in her hand to find Elain peering over at her with a concerned look.

“Yeah,” Nesta forced out, despite every fiber of her body screaming otherwise. “Can’t wait.”

She continued throughout the morning as normal as she could be, even though she was shaking. When noon hit, Nesta called out to Elain who was lounging in the living room waiting for Azriel to come over.

"I'm think I’m going to go to the gym." She willed her voice not to shake.

"Okay, have fun!" Elain exclaimed from the other room.

Nesta had purchased a gym membership to Illyria last week, a pathetic effort at getting out of the apartment more often. She hadn't gone once yet. And either way, her only real plan was to use the hot tub. She couldn't remember the last time she exercised, and she had no intention of changing that.

After getting dressed and grabbing her bag, Nesta headed out.

The drive was quick; the gym was only a couple miles away. Once Nesta parked, she made her way inside the complex.

She forced a tight smile as she approached the woman who was working the front desk, scanning her membership card and continuing forward. Her mind was racing, and she prayed that there wouldn't be many people there. It was a Tuesday afternoon. She doubted it.

Nesta was weaving her way past the space dedicated to boxing to get to the locker rooms when she heard a familiar voice ahead of her.

She instinctively turned her head to see who it was, only to find Cassian standing next to a punching bag, his face breaking out into a grin as he talked to a very beautiful woman.

She was small, several inches shorter than Nesta. Her copper chestnut hair was pulled back into an elegant ponytail, and her hands were on her hips as she attentively listened to Cassian speak. She seemed captivated by whatever he was saying, probably some bullshit meant to charm her.

Nesta didn't think twice as she discreetly did a 180 and started walking the opposite way, desperate to avoid him especially after the night in the laundry room. That'd been the last time she'd seen him, and she didn't want to talk about it. Not with him or anyone else. Even though she'd opened up to him, that didn't mean they were friendly. In fact, it was the complete opposite. She was determined to keep him at arm's length now. Nesta had cursed herself the morning after those events had transpired. She was so stupid to tell him what she did. It was just because she had been severely sleep-deprived, and she had felt bad for him. It wouldn't happen again.

So, she slowly slinked away, praying to the Gods that he didn't notice her.

Her plan was going smoothly until she heard her name.

"Nesta?"

Her shoulders stiffened. Fuck.

She brought herself to a painstaking stop and turned around to see Cassian jogging over to her.

"Hey," he greeted as he approached. He seemed cautious, like he didn't want to scare her off. "I didn't realize you went to Illyria."

"I don't," Nesta replied quickly. He waited for her to say more, but she just blinked up at him.

"Well," he drawled, looking back at the woman he had been talking with. "I'm just about to start a training session." Ah, he works here. She wondered what he did in his free time. "Do you want to join? The first session is free."

Nesta looked to where the woman was methodically wrapping her hands in what looked like Ace bandages. She was more stunning than Nesta originally thought. She wouldn't be at all surprised if Cassian hooked up with his trainees. Especially if they looked like that.

"No, I'm - "

But Cassian wasn't having it. "Gwyn!" he called out, gesturing her to come to where they stood.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nesta hissed, her heart rate spiking as she watched the woman, Gwyn, make her way toward them.

Cassian ignored her, continuing to smile. The bastard.

As Gwyn made her way over, Nesta did her best to put on a friendly face. She was pretty sure she was just grimacing.

"Hi! I'm Gwyn," she introduced herself with a bubbly voice. She looked Nesta up and down. "You must be Nesta. I've heard a lot about you."

Nesta threw Cassian a sideway glare. He'd been talking about her? No doubt complaining about her horrible attitude.

Cassian winked at the look she gave him before turning to Gwyn. "Gwyn, why don't you tell Nesta a little bit about what we do while I go get some equipment from the back? Then we can get started."

Nesta opened her mouth to object, but Cassian was gone before she could even blink. Groaning inwardly, she reluctantly faced Gwyn who was smiling softly at her.

"Well, I assume you know that Cassian is a trainer," she started with an awkward laugh.

Nesta stared at her.

Gwyn continued to smile despite Nesta's coldness. "He actually created this program, Wings of Resilience, a couple years ago. He offers discounted training lessons for people who deal with PTSD. It's helped a lot of people. Cassian mainly teaches kickboxing, but in the past he's taken in some older veterans who aren't really able to do high cardio activities, so he guides them through yoga practices.  Everyone here adores him," Gwyn giggles and leans in. "Especially the older ladies who come in every week for their exercise class."

She kept talking, but Nesta was no longer listening. The room suddenly felt tiny, the air stifling. What Gwyn told her triggered her fight or flight instincts. She didn’t know why, she just knew she couldn’t breathe, and if she didn’t leave now, she was going to have a full-blown panic attack in the middle of a room full of people.

“Are you okay?”

Nesta’s eyes shot up from her shaking hands to see Gwyn take a cautious step forward, her eyes wide with something that resembled concern. Nesta nearly let out a hysterical laugh. Gwyn and Cassian - they were such good people. How did they even pretend to give a shit about someone like Nesta?

"I-I need to go,” Nesta blurted, eyes scanning the room for the nearest exit.

"I know it's a lot to consider," Gwyn said quietly. She looked down at her feet. "But it's really helped me."

No, no, no.

Nesta didn't even realize she had started running until her lungs were burning from the exertion of energy. She ran and didn’t stop. She caught a flash of someone – Cassian’s – face as she sprinted past the lobby and outside, but she didn't look back. She couldn't.

The cold air was harsh against her lungs. She welcomed the burning sensation, gasping for more oxygen. Before Nesta could comprehend what was happening, she was spilling her guts on the sidewalk until she was dry heaving.

Passersby looked at her with disgust as they walked past, but Nesta couldn’t bring herself to care.

When there was nothing more to come out, Nesta wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and straightened herself. Every muscle in her body screamed. How she was able to stand, she had no idea. Nesta beelined to her car, locked the door, and speeded out of the parking lot before anyone could run after her.

------------------------------

That night, Nesta received a text from an unknown number.

Nesta, I asked Cassian for your phone number. I hope I didn’t overstep your boundaries. I just wanted to let you know that there will be a spot here if you want it. Please think about it. Gwyn

Her first instinct was to delete the text, cancel her membership to Illyria, and never face Gwyn - or Cassian for that matter - again. There was no way she was going to show her face in that gym again.

But despite everything, Nesta found herself saving Gwyn’s number into her contacts before she fell asleep.

------------------------------

tag list (let me know if you want to be added/removed):

@sjmships​ @sleeping-and-books​ @sirgwaines​ @books-for-sure​ @blowing-mikey​ @b00kworm​ @wineywitch202​ @drielecarla​ @liquifyme​ @gisellefigue08​ @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter​ @loysydark​ @stardelia​ @sayosdreams​ @maastrash​ @superspiritfestival​ @courtofjurdan​ @ireallyshouldsleeprn​ @thewayshedreamed @booksstorm​ @laylaameer01​ @rainbowcheetah512

[homeformyheart]

scathing - colt kaneko x mc (rod)

author’s note: first ride or die one-shot featuring colt kaneko! i picked him in my second playthrough and GEEZ the route changes near the end caught me off-guard but did NOT disappoint 😂. includes tiny callout to red carpet diaries. also, i know nothing about cars.

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. series/pairing: ride or die – colt kaneko x mc (ellie wheeler) rating/warnings: 14+; swearing based on/prompt: title inspired by lyrics from “mad woman” by taylor swift word count: 3.8k summary: ellie drops in to surprise colt only to find that he is out with another woman.

scathing

ellie whacked colt with a large pillow with one hand while doing her best to punch his chest and stomach with the other to keep him from grabbing her, knowing she physically wouldn’t be able to do much to hurt him. colt tried to dodge as best as he could while looking for an opening that would let him stop ellie’s attacks without hurting her. he had to not only do this while half blinded by a giant pillow but while protecting his body – he had never seen ellie this mad before and did not want to find out if she was mad enough to knee him in the groin.

“you cheating motherfucker! how dare you, asshole!” ellie screamed, her face shifting between displays of rage and tears.

colt didn’t know which was worse. “god, ellie, stop! will you let me explain?!”

3 hours earlier

ellie weaved in and out of traffic seamlessly, her eyes trained on the inconspicuous white sedan two cars ahead. she had dropped in at the body shop to surprise colt a day early. she was able to convince her dad to let her leave her grandparents’ house early considering they had already spent the christmas holiday with them. she pulled up to the body shop and was told that colt had left for a job by himself, which ellie immediately knew was suspicious. colt was reckless, but he wasn’t stupid. he knew he should never work a job alone, which likely meant he thought this was one he could do in his sleep.

something didn’t sit right. ellie found out where colt was headed and got back in her car. she quickly got on the highway, heading toward the address of the downtown hotel colt was supposedly heading to, when she noticed the white sedan ahead of her. even though it was a completely standard white sedan, of which there were hundreds, if not thousands, in l.a., ellie knew it was colt’s. it was the car they had prepped for the upcoming koenigsegg job. this was even further proof that colt thought this job was brainless – he would never risk taking out their getaway car more than once.

ellie watched as the sedan pulled into the underground parking lot and she quickly found a spot on the street not far from the entrance to the hotel. it was definitely a high-end hotel and she would need to dress in something other than a tank top and sneakers if she was going to blend in. she quickly changed in the backseat into a glittery bodycon dress and flats, running her hands through her braid to loosen the curls to give it that “beachy” look. she swiped on pink lip gloss as a final touch and made her way inside the hotel.

she scanned the room and identified the parking garage elevators and ducked behind a pillar that gave her a good vantage point. she listened for the ding! that signaled the elevator doors opening and peeked carefully to see if it was colt. he was dressed in his crisp navy blue suit, with a white dress shirt but no tie. lucky for her, he didn’t seem to notice her as he walked across the room to the hotel bar. ellie darted over from the pillar to the other side of the doorway, relying on her peripheral vision to see where colt went. he was facing away from her, standing at the bar next to a tall, gorgeous redhead wearing a backless dark green halter dress that definitely showed off her assets.

ellie felt a little silly for spying on her boyfriend, especially when it was definitely clear he was working a job. this woman was not unlike others they had to deal with in the past but she was definitely the prettiest. she considered heading back to the shop when she noticed that they had switched positions – colt was sitting on a barstool with the woman between his legs. his hands were on her waist and she was gripping the collar of his shirt as they kissed passionately.

she felt her heart shatter and tears were quick to prick the back of her eyes as she ran as fast as she could out of the hotel. even through the tears, she pulled her car out of the street seamlessly and raced back to the shop. she let herself cry in the car, the sobs wracking her body. shoulders shaking, she grabbed her tank top from before and used it to blow her nose and dry her face. she was not going to let colt kaneko get away with this.

ellie told the rest of the crew to take off because she was going to need to talk to colt alone before she went upstairs and sat on the bed to wait.

colt sensed something was different when he got back to the body shop. he had been excited to see ellie’s car out front but noticed the backseat still had all her stuff. if she was back, she definitely would’ve brought her duffel bags up to his room. it was quiet in the shop, which was unusual, because he was expecting his crew to work at least a couple more hours. it wasn’t like them to take off without talking to him first.

“ellie! i didn’t know you were coming back early. i missed you, baby,” colt grinned, walking over to ellie to give her a kiss.

she stood up and grabbed one of his pillows. “oh, really? did you miss me while you were sucking face with that redhead? or are there other women i should know about?”

colt rolled his eyes. “don’t be so dramatic. it was for a job, it meant nothing. you know what it takes to get a job done.”

ellie felt her blood boil and started whacking him with the pillow. “no job is ever worth you cheating on me, asshole.”

colt’s eyes narrowed as if he was trying to calculate the likelihood that this was going to escalate. unfortunately, what he didn’t realize was that he was too late and his dismissive attitude already hit ellie’s escalate button.

“ellie, i know it looks bad but it was a job. i promise that’s all it was. i was playing a part and we got what we needed,” colt tried to appeal to ellie’s logical side.

“how stupid do you think i am? i saw you with my own eyes, colt. and even if i didn’t, you reek of chanel perfume, which only old women wear, and you have lipstick all over your face and your shirt.”

colt was starting to lose his patience but clenched his fists as a reminder to avoid saying anything that would nuclearize the conversation. “sweetheart, come on, we’re in this together. you know i only have eyes for you.”

“don’t you ‘sweetheart’ me. everything out of your mouth has been a lie,” ellie snapped. “tell me – was she good in bed? was it worth however much you got from the job?”

now this was getting ridiculous. “ellie, you know i would never sleep with anyone else. i would never cheat on you.”

“i clearly don’t know anything because you did cheat on me, asshole,” her voice dropped but retained the dangerously angry tone that kept colt from coming closer.  “you know perfectly well how i feel about jobs that require you to hook up with someone else. clearly the only thing that matters to you is the job, even at the expense of our relationship.”

“el, come on –”

ellie shook her head and cut him off, “no, you’re not talking your way out of this. we’re done.” she bolted from the room and down the stairs toward the front door.

colt knew if he didn’t catch her before she got in her car, he’d never catch up to her. she was by far the fastest driver on the crew and if she left l.a., he might not be able to find her. he sprinted after her, jumping off the stairs recklessly and barely catching himself before he hit the wall, saving himself from a nasty concussion. he pushed himself up quickly and let the adrenaline propel him out the door just in time to see ellie slide into the driver’s seat.

the car squealed away from the garage and quickly out of sight and colt had no clue where she was headed. dammit, he cursed inwardly as he quickly grabbed his helmet and hopped on his bike to chase after her.

* * * * * ellie had managed to lose colt after half an hour, which she counted as a massive win given that he had the advantage with his bike in l.a. traffic. but she knew how to navigate every nook and cranny of l.a. having spent the better part of the last couple of years charting courses and back-up escape paths. she pulled into the underground parking lot near her destination, pulled on a blonde wig, fixed up her makeup, and changed into heels.

she stepped out of the car and took the parking elevator to the ground floor, walking as fast as she could in three-inch heels outside to flag down a cab. she gave the driver instructions and sat back, giving her appearance a once-over and spritzing a light perfume on her wrists and neck. she pulled up the discreet app on her phone, the one they used to message with their buyers and targets in a way that was untraceable, and texted her contact. he wanted to put a job before her? two could play this game.

when she arrived at the very expensive club, she gave her alias to the bouncer and was escorted quickly to the vip room, where her contact was waiting.  aaron montmartre, the spoiled nephew of famed hollywood producer viktor montmartre, who was known for his extensive collection of expensive cars, spending sprees on viktor’s black card, and his weakness for young, attractive women. he was supposed to receive the newest koenigsegg model before it was even available to the public. and ellie was going to find out exactly when and where the drop would be.

* * * * * colt pulled up around the corner of the vip hot spot that was a known celebrity hangout. he knew ellie and knew she was pissed enough to want to teach him a lesson. he couldn’t help but be impressed with how seamlessly she drove through l.a. to get him off her tail and how she succeeded briefly. he prided himself on being able to handle any route with his bike and the fact that she was still able to lose him was beyond sexy. there was no one else that could compare to her.

although he didn’t know exactly what she was doing, he did know that he needed to be really careful not to give himself away too early. he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked casually up to the bouncer, giving him a curt nod. the bouncer gave him a long, scrutinizing look before letting him in. it took colt a few seconds to let his eyes adjust to the dark, hazy atmosphere of the pulsing nightclub.

he walked toward the bar – it would give him the most unassuming vantage point to observe the club and he could do with a drink – only to notice a blonde wig and curve-hugging dress that looked all too familiar. he approached the bar slowly, making sure there were enough people between them that he wouldn’t get noticed; even though her back was to him, all she would need to do was turn to the right and she’d spot him in her peripheral.

colt ordered a glass of whiskey neat so that he’d have something to keep him occupied as he watched ellie flirt openly with their target. colt knew what ellie was likely up to and he was both angry that she would jeopardize the job by potentially tipping their hand early and furious that she would openly flirt with another man. most people didn’t understand the difference, but a furious colt was a jealous colt; the concept of jealousy was something he kept out of his vocabulary.

ellie knew. she knew the moment colt walked into the room. after three years, five months, seventeen days, and twelve successful jobs together, she had learned a thing or two about him. she knew that he would eventually get back on her tail and actually, she was counting on it. it was what she was good at. reading people. learning him. studying the ins and outs of the road and the job. memorizing the ins and outs of him.

and one of the things ellie knew was that colt was a jealous man, although he would rather shoot himself in the foot than admit it out loud to anyone. but if he could use his raw magnetism to get a job done, then she could use her innocent appearance to disarm a target and gain intel. she had already spent the better half of the last 30 minutes pretending to be a tipsy flirt and encouraging aaron toward drunkenness, knowing he’d be more likely to spill details that way.

what she expected but still wasn’t prepared for was how handsy and charming aaron could be. she actually found herself enjoying their flirty banter and perhaps realized that she was a little tipsier than she should be. ellie turned to lean against the bar so she could subtly inch closer to aaron, placing a hand carefully on his bicep as though to steady herself. she immediately felt colt’s eyes staring at the back of her head and had to make a conscious effort not to shiver. she barely registered aaron placing his hand on her hip and leaning in far too close to ask her if she wanted to leave with him.

“i just got the newest koenigsegg model delivered to me. we could take it for a test drive,” he murmured in her ear.

it took every ounce of willpower ellie had not to tense at the situation. her mind was reeling with this new tidbit of information that would put a wrench in their plans; they had assumed the drop would happen in the next few days.

she knew what she had to do but she also knew colt would be pissed, even more than he already was. ellie pulled back slightly and smiled. “i would love that,” she said invitingly.

that was all it took. before ellie could say anything else, she felt colt’s presence appear behind her, his hand hovering by her right hip.

“if you know what’s good for you, you’ll back off,” colt said through gritted teeth. ellie could feel the tension radiating off him as he sidled up next to her. “we’re together.”

aaron stood up slowly, taking out a wad of bills from his pocket and leaving a generous tip on the bar counter without breaking eye contact with colt. ellie instinctively took a step back away from colt only to have the wooden bar press into her back.

“who the fuck are you?” aaron said, casually inching closer to ellie so his shoulder was angled in front of her.

colt’s hand clenched into a fist. “someone you don’t want to mess with. now back off.”

“i don’t think we should be speaking for the pretty lady. leah, you know this creep?”

ellie blinked, slightly startled before remembering that her alias was leah. she slowly turned to give colt a pointed glare, raising an eyebrow and hoping he’d get the hint.

she turned back to aaron and gave him her best impression of an innocent smile. “no, i don’t think i’ve seen him before in my life.”

aaron turned back to colt. “you heard the lady. now i think you better leave before i have security escort you out.”

colt unclenched and clenched his fist a few times as though he was stretching it. ellie knew where this was headed and inwardly sighed; she could countdown from five at this rate.

right on cue, colt’s fist flew at aaron’s face, hitting him square in the jaw and sending him backward into the bar seat he was occupying previously. to his credit and ellie’s surprise, aaron seemed unfazed, picking himself back up and massaging his jaw briefly.

“why don’t we take this outside and settle this like men?” aaron said, challenging colt with his glare.

ellie’s brow furrowed. normally, colt getting into a bar fight with someone who had been flirting with her wouldn’t faze her, but they did need to figure out how to lift aaron’s car without him suspecting them or getting caught. she wasn’t sure how beating the guy up would help with that. and now she was stuck pretending she didn’t know who colt was.

“fine. after you,” colt seethed, stepping to the side so ellie and aaron could move away from the bar. aaron was a good head taller than him and ellie didn’t think this would be that easy of a fight given how quickly aaron had bounced back before.

aaron reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black fob. “why don’t you go hang out in the car, leah? this shouldn’t take long. it’s in one of the reserved parking spots in the garage, closest to the elevator,” he said, grabbing her hand to place the fob in her palm and closing her fingers over it.

ellie’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as she looked at him. “oh-okay,” she said, turning away from aaron. she gave colt a pointed side-eye as she passed him.

well, that was a freebie, she thought to herself as she made her way down to the car. it was exactly where aaron said it would be. ellie slid into the driver’s seat and ran her hands over the steering wheel, relishing the feel of the cool leather underneath her fingers. she grabbed her sunglasses and put them on as she drove out of the garage, quickly dialing toby on speakerphone.

“toby, i need you to ready the drop site off exit 54. i’ll explain later. if colt calls, tell him to meet me at our spot,” ellie said quickly, as she navigated the local roads to the drop site, taking extra care to avoid intersections and neighborhoods with traffic cameras.

once she arrived at the drop site, she checked with toby that the car stayed off the radar before emptying the glovebox, wiping down her prints, and shoving her wig into her purse. being methodical was ellie’s forte, even with the adrenaline running through her body, she knew she did everything right.

the dryve back to her car was uneventful, which did little to ease ellie’s nerves. she wasn’t worried about the job in actuality, but about colt. she knew he could hold his own in a fight, but she also knew how stubborn he could be. and despite still being angry with him, she was admittedly worried for his safety.

ellie felt like she was holding her breath the entire drive over to the cliffside. it wasn’t until she saw the familiar motorcycle parked near the railing that she felt a sigh of relief escape her body. she parked and stepped out, her gaze falling on the back of colt’s head.

she walked slowly over to him with anxiety in her stomach at the thought of how bruised he might be. it wasn’t until she saw that he was mostly unscathed, other than a purple bruise forming on his cheekbone and his knuckles, that her shoulders finally sagged, the tension she held all evening releasing at once.

“colt… thank god, you’re okay,” she said softly as she looked up at him, raising her hand hesitantly toward his bruised cheek.

instead, she closed her hand into a fist and punched him in the shoulder.

“ow— ellie, i just got out of a fight, seriously?!” colt yelped, angling his shoulder away from her.

ellie stepped forward every time he stepped back so she could punch him again and again. “you asshole. don’t you dare do that again, i was seriously worried about you! and you almost cost us the job!”

“i’m sorry, ow— will you let me, augh!” colt said, finally managing to grab her wrist and hold it in place while grabbing her hip with his other hand and pulling her close.

she made a half-assed attempt at struggling, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to break away. ellie did her best to glare at him, but as she looked into his eyes, she felt her anger cracking. her eyes softened and she found herself subconsciously leaning in. in a split second, colt’s lips were on hers, hot and desperate.

ellie almost forgot why she was mad at him to begin with as he gently bit her lower lip, eliciting a contented sigh that gave his tongue entrance. he pulled her hips as close as possible to his and ellie wrapped her arms around his neck. she gave back just as desperately, fighting him for dominance as she traced her tongue around his bottom lip, sucking on it gently.

colt let out a ragged breath and finally pulled back. “i’m sorry, el,” he said quietly, punctuating her name with a tender kiss. “i’m sorry,” he said again, giving her another kiss.

“if you ever cheat on me again—” ellie threatened quietly before colt silenced her with another gentle kiss.

“believe me, i won’t do that again. i did not like seeing another man put his hands on you, even if it was for a job,” colt said sheepishly, avoiding her gaze.

ellie grinned. “at least we got the job done,” she said.

colt smirked at her. “good, so i didn’t take a beating for nothing. now i don’t know about you, but i could go for a swim.”

“pretty sure you’re not supposed to go in the ocean with open wounds,” ellie warned as she watched colt strip down to his underwear.

“i hear the salt water is great for cuts,” colt grinned cheekily. “you gonna join me, sweetheart?”

ellie rolled her eyes and smiled. “okay, but don’t say i didn’t warn you,” she said, taking off her dress and shoes.

“hey,” colt said with a sudden seriousness just as she was preparing to jump. she turned to look at him and he pulled her closer.

“thanks for having my back,” he murmured, leaning in to give her a deep kiss that took her breath away.

“i’m still your driver, aren’t i?” ellie said affectionately.

colt smirked and gave a nod in response. he held out his hand for her to grab and they turned to look at the glittering horizon before they jumped, together.

* * * * * mentions: @choicesficwriterscreations; @lovehugsandcandy; @kat-tia801 choices permatag: @withbeautyandrage; @agentnolastname; @freckles-spangledvampire

[the-muses-are-herd]

Recent OC list.

A handy little reference... that I’ll update later, with the proper info. For now, just a list of recent OC’s I have been using for RP: 

*

- Todd Mannix. 

*

SETTING: A story of mine, loosely based on “The Fox and the Hound” (primarily the novel, but frankly, a few other sources as well). Fantasy, kinda… Steampunk setting. A world loosely based on early 20th-century America (as in the continent), with technology being a touch more advanced and magic existing but being rare and regarded as a very risky type or energy to tap into. 

GENDER: Male. 

SPECIES: Red Fox.

SEXUALITY: Pansexual.

AGE: 25 (loosely).

OCCUPATION: Jack-of-all-trades.

PERSONALITY: Extroverted, quietly calculating. 

DESCRIPTION: A globe-trotter adventurer whose charming looks hide a seasoned survivalist. Frequently seeking new sights and thrills, loyal primarily to his best friend, the more laidback Toby. 

*

- Toby Slade. 

*

SETTING: Same as Todd. 

GENDER: Male

SPECIES: Hound dog. 

SEXUALITY: Bisexual (not entirely set in stone just yet)

AGE: 27 (loosely).

OCUPATION: Former hitman, currently jack-of-all-trades.

PERSONALITY: Businesslike and formal —save with his close acquaintances, with whom he reveals a more sarcastic, yet well-meaning, demeanor. 

DESCRIPTION: Former member of a mercenary team, quit to become an adventurer with his best friend, the more adventurous Todd. Holds himself to a code of honor that is frequently challenged by the often outlandish situations their adventuring leads to. 

**

- Camazotz. 

*

SETTING: Housamo (aka Tokyo Afterschool Summoners); this OC is one of many that I basically came up with during a long talk with my boyfriend. 

GENDER: Male.

SPECIES: Honduran white bat (Ectophylla alba) (*)

AGE: 26. 

OCCUPATION: Medical aide / independent researcher. 

PERSONALITY: Entirely focused at work and in battle, but very easily distracted in his free time. Somewhat embarrassed by the fact that he’s often mistaken for a child, which is only exacerbated by his love of sweets. 

DESCRIPTION: A bat Transient hailing from Anáhuac (**); descended from a long line of executioners, Camazotz long decided that he wanted to be a healer instead. This new world gave him the perfect opportunity for that, and so he set out to join the ideal Guild for his plans. Though regarded as too adorable to take seriously by most people, Camazotz is a hard-working individual, determined to achieve his goals. 

SACRED ARTIFACT: A string that grants ‘Divine Mercy’. However, Camazotz does not like using this Artifact except as a last-resource option —ostensibly it is a healing device. But in truth it has two outcomes: If the patient has wounds that might have healed over time, the string heals them instantly. If the wounds were lethal, the string kills them —the divine mercy in question. Camazotz believes there must be a way to repurpose it to find a third option. 

GUILD: Tamers. 

(*): Look up photos of them, by the by. It’s the cutest stuff in the world! :3

(**): Anáhuac is a concept I use in lieu of the game’s “El Dorado”. This territory includes other territories derived from Prehispanic mythologies, such as Hanan Pacha (see Chuychu, below). 

**

- Chuychú.

**

SETTING: Housamo. 

GENDER: Male. 

SPECIES: Alpaca. 

AGE: 28. 

OCCUPATION: Librarian. 

PERSONALITY: A flirty, somewhat vain, yet sharp young man. 

DESCRIPTION: Hailing from Hanan Pacha (*), Chuychú has been liaison between gods, astronomer / researcher, and now part of a Guild that mixes magic and scientific research. His main objective is to study and catalogue divergent timelines, including previous time loops. Generally pacific by nature, leaving the fighting to the bodyguards in his group, he is nevertheless more than wiling to defend himself or others in a pinch. 

SACRED ARTIFACT: The star mirrors —two twin orbs. One shows time and one space. Chuychu primarily uses them to study cosmic and time anomalies. Can also use them to show others their own past or divergent timelines (an ability he usually reserves only for people who might need a push in the right direction). In battle, he can combine their effects to create a profound vertigo effect, powerful enough to knock down all but the most resilient opponents. 

GUILD: Tama Scholars (**)

(*) = A world based on Inca mythology. 

(**) = Another concept my boyfriend and I came up with together. A group more interested in research than in fighting, based on Tama as it is the site of Tokyo’s biggest library. 

***

- Juan Darién (aka JD)

**

SETTING: Housamo.

GENDER: Male. 

SPECIES: Tiger-man / Human (see below).

AGE: 17. 

OCCUPATION: Student. 

PERSONALITY: Self-assured, if somewhat stubborn. Because he believes humans to be naturally prone to evil, he figures that his human form is not beholden to the same restrictions he imposes upon himself as a tiger. Consequently, in his tiger form he acts in what he understands to be a virtuous way (some say, self-righteous) and in his human form as a creature of desire. Yet his true personality is that of a naive young man still learning about the world. 

DESCRIPTION: The son of a tiger-man and a human woman. Lived peacefully in a small village in Yvy Tenondé (*), until the townspeople, who did not approve of this mixed marriage, burned their home. Juan Darién lost his parents that day, and since then came to believe that humans are evil by nature. Later, coming to a different world via a pillar of light, he joined the Aoyama group, figuring that their beliefs are the closest to his notions of good and evil. He considers his tiger form his true, and pure nature, and sometimes dons his human form purely to excise out his “sinful temptations”… or used to, until a fateful day when his ideologies led him to clash with one of the Crafters. 

The experience with the resulting Exception, and the intimacy necessary to cancel it, have led JD to question several of his long-held beliefs. 

SACRED ARTIFACT: A medallion that represents “Split”. He uses it to switch between his two forms, identifying the tiger side as “Juan” and the human as “Darién”. Only recently has he begun using both names at all times. The medallion can also be used in combat to split App users from their Artifacts. However, this can be a double-edged sword. Some Artifacts will simply go inert without a wielder, but others will go wild without a user to anchor them. 

GUILD: Missionaries. 

(*) = Part of the same world that includes Anáhuac and Hanan Pacha. Loosely based on Guaraní mythology. 

NOTE: Based on a character by Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga. 

***

- Fortunato. 

**

SETTING: Housamo. 

GENDER: Male.

SPECIES: Lion. 

AGE: 40. 

OCCUPATION: Security guard. 

PERSONALITY: Serious-minded about his job and about what he is to protect, be it arts, relics, or knowledge. Generally friendly otherwise, and particularly kind to children. 

DESCRIPTION: A transient who journeyed from his word looking for his twin, Sopho. Together they formed a duo dedicated to guarding all manner of temples and sacred spaces, descending from a long line of guardians. In this world he fulfills that role in his guild’s library base, together with a wolf transient whom Fortunato regards as a brother-in-arms. Quite protective of his guild and his friends, perhaps in part derived from his job. 

SACRED ARTIFACT: A morning-star flail that can hide doorways or reveal them. In battle Fortunato uses it to lock his opponents into a combat room that he alone controls. 

GUILD: Scholars. 

***

- Phyx. 

** 

SETTING: Housamo. 

GENDER: Female.

SPECIES: Sphynx (winged lioness) 

AGE: 35. 

OCCUPATION: Linguist. 

PERSONALITY: Inquisitive, to the point that sometimes she’ll hyper-focus on questions. Especially when meeting somebody new. Nevertheless a capable leader and a fierce warrior when needed. 

DESCRIPTION: A transient from Aaru. Phyx was the guardian of a massive temple until curiosity led her to explore the contents of this temple herself, finding a vast wealth of knowledge and culture. When she journeyed to another world, she sought a similar place of culture, finding it in the largest library of the city. Leader of the Tama Scholars. Under her leadership, this Guild is less interested in imposing a specific Ideology than in preserving records of several matters —including the many time loops that have come to pass before. 

SACRED ARTIFACT: A golden scepter that controls light. At it’s most powerful it will summon a light beam that can annihilate in seconds. There is a second, subtler power it has —Phyx can use it to reveal hidden passages or messages.  

GUILD: Scholars.

**

- Yasy Yateré.

SETTING: Housamo.

GENDER: Male. 

SPECIES: Unkown —shapeshifter, presents as a golden hare-man.

AGE: Unknown —claims to be 18. 

OCCUPATION: Greenhouse keeper.  

PERSONALITY: Polite, friendly and approachable. Has a more playful side that he reserves for his “golden friends” (see below). 

DESCRIPTION: A mysterious, elusive Transient from Yvy Tenondé. He generally stays out of App Battles and what few people contact him have found Yasy to be an okay, if slightly reserved, fellow. However, he has a side that only a few have seen. Every so often, Yasy will find a boy who catches his fancy, and use his powers to get close to him. When the time is right, he will give them a kiss that tastes like honey and wild berries —which will entrance them, after which he’ll take them to his secret garden to play. Yasy eventually gets bored of these “golden friends” and will let them go. What is he truly searching for? Even Guilds like the Wisemen and the Entertainers have not been able to crack this mystery just yet. 

SACRED ARTIFACT: A baculum decorated with small precious stones. It controls neither plants nor mesmerism, as his opponents expect —instead, it lets him control emotions or even make people drowsy. Yasy prefers to escape rather than to defeat his opponents. However, an opponent who pushes too far will find themselves confronted with Yasy’s true nature: One of the seven children of Kerana and Tau, god of Evil. His genuine appearance and powers are not quite so whimsical. 

GUILD: Unknown. Has been rumored to be part of either the Rule Makers or the Genociders, but neither group has ever confirmed he is in their ranks. 

**

- Amber. 

An AU variation on Kounosuke, using concepts from “Steven Universe” and later “Houseki no Kuni”. 

Basic info can be found here --though it is now slightly out of date. 

**

- Hugh Cahil. 

*

SETTING: A particular AU that I use along with my boyfriend that is, uuhhh….. “Morenatsu but with Sci-fi stuff. Also a lot of characters from other Fandoms”. 

GENDER: Male. 

AGE: 21. 

SPECIES: Tasmanian Devil. 

SEXUALITY: Gay. 

OCCUPATION: Drama teacher. Moonlights as the drummer for “The Carrions”. 

PERSONALITY: Blunt and straight to the point, yet fiercely loyal to his friends and to their friends in turn. Highly gregarious. 

DESCRIPTION: The kind of cool teacher whose students flock to for his unconventional choices in teaching (one year he had this drama class do a stage production of “You’re good man, Charlie Brown” followed by “Dog sees God: Confessions of a teenage blockhead” (*) ). Singaporean, though of Australian origin, recently Hugh has been focusing more on his band, as they are finally starting to get their first breaks. 

(*) = Look up the plot to these plays. You are in for a quite a treat!

** 

- Karnevil.

SETTING: Mutanimals / TMNT. 

GENDER: Male.

SPECIES: Hyena. 

SEXUALITY: (Undecided)

AGE: Unknown (roughly estimated to be in his late 20’s).

OCCUPATION: Former hotel doorman; currently, mercenary. 

PERSONALITY: Obsessive, yet wiling to bargain. 

DESCRIPTION: A victim of two separate mutations, first from human to hyena-man, then briefly to brainwashed servant and back —but in the process discovered a dark desire deep inside of him: To eat the flesh of living human beings. Mutants, too. He has forgotten his original name in lieu of his chosen monicker. Will lend his augmented speed, strength, and mouthful of razor-sharp teeth and claws to any employer wiling to provide him with what he craves. Yet once the hunger is sated, he has found himself aimless and often adrift in life…

**

- Moy

SETTING: TMNT / Mutanimals. 

SPECIES: Mutant Leopard with purple fur. 

GENDER: Male. 

AGE: 26. 

OCCUPATION: Former truck driver, currently freelance courier.

PERSONALITY: Disciplined at his job, used to be timid. Currently becoming more and more outspoken. 

DESCRIPTION: An exchange student from Guatemala who extended his stay working all sort of off jobs. He was considering leaving when disaster struck and he found himself doused in Mutagen even as he clung to a dyed paw he had won in a fair years ago. The mutation gave him the additional, uncommon power to teleport. Finding himself with no real barriers for the first time in his life, Moy has decided to explore every nook and cranny of this strange world —and beyond! 

NOTE: Based on the character “Moykat” from the licensed Mexican TMNT comic back in the 90’s.

*

[call-me-rei]

Party Animal

Friday nights on a college campus were everything the movies made them out to be. They were loud, unsupervised, crazy, and full of questionable decisions. No one was complaining though, especially not the students.

After a long week of lectures, labs, and all-nighters due to an overwhelming amount of assignments, students on campus wanted to let loose before it all started over again on Monday. And what better way to do that than with a wild party?

Tonight’s party was brought to the students by a fraternity brother who had just rented a house off-campus. He had finally set everything up and made the space available for a housewarming party. It was originally supposed to be for his fellow brothers and some of the members of their sister sorority, but word spread quickly around campus and soon people who didn’t even know the guy were making plans to show up to his house. Those people didn’t even know his name, but that didn’t matter.

Students got out of class and did what they needed to do to prepare for the event. Some rested after being in lectures all day, others pregamed with shots of various liquors to let loose before heading to a random person’s house.

Vic Fuentes, though? Vic fantasized.

Vic had heard about the party while he was in astronomy class. Actually, he always heard about parties in astronomy class. It was his last class of the day and by that time lots of information about the school’s social gatherings had been made known. It also helped that some of the most popular kids at school (the athletes) were in his class. They knew about all the goings-on whether they were meant to be in the loop or not.

It was 2:55 PM and Vic was sitting in his seat waiting for class to start. He liked getting to his classes early so he could socialize with his friends before the professor started the lesson, but he didn’t have any friends in this class, so he resorted to texting them. He was getting frustrated though since no one answered his latest message that he’d sent almost fifteen minutes ago. Their last classes ended earlier than Vic’s, so they should’ve at least read the message. What could they be doing?

He was distracted from sending another message when a loud group of students entered the room.

Vic rolled his eyes to himself before looking down at his phone and switching to a different app. It’s not that Vic didn’t like these students; he just didn’t appreciate the peace of the room being disturbed. Everyone who was there was minding their own business, having a quiet conversation with the other people sitting at their table before these guys entered.

Vic tried to ignore them, but he couldn’t ignore the name that one of them had spoken.

“Hey, Kellin, you going to Blake’s party tonight?”

Kellin. That name had Vic’s ears perked and ready to eavesdrop.

Vic had a huge crush on Kellin Quinn; he’d liked him since he saw him in their English class at the beginning of the semester. Kellin was slightly taller than Vic with dark black hair that often fell in front of his face, bright green eyes that pulled him in, and tattoos that covered his arms and legs, making him look like a total badass.

He was way out of Vic’s league.

While Vic was the quiet, standoffish type, Kellin was a social butterfly. He’d made friends with almost everyone in English and astronomy, which would explain why he was hanging out with the loud kids. Vic didn’t mind though. He didn’t really talk to Kellin so he’d bear the chatter if it meant he could hear his crush speak.

“Yeah dude,” Kellin replied, “it’s gonna be sick! Nine o’clock, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll text you the address.”

That was as far as their conversation went when their professor entered and asked everyone to get to their seats. Vic tried his best not to stare as his crush took his regular seat in front of him.

The lesson started and Vic tried his best to focus on lecture on the moon, but Kellin was so distracting. It was obvious that the raven-haired boy wasn’t too interested in whatever was being taught. Science wasn’t Kellin’s strongest subject. Well, any subject that involved numbers wasn’t Kellin’s strongest subject. He dreaded his math and science classes with a passion, but he had some friends in those classes that made it all bearable.

However, Kellin hardly acknowledged Vic. They had two classes together every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and they sat near each other in both of them. Kellin knew who Vic was, but other than having a face to put a name to, he didn’t have much information on him. He did know that Vic was a nice guy who loved making music. They’d talked about it once in English class when they were deciding on a subject for their ethnographic research project.

Kellin leaned his head onto his hand as he listened to his professor drone on about how to calculate the motions of Earth and the moon.

The professor gave the class a chance to work with the members of their table on the latest assignment. Kellin faced forward and looked at Vic who had already started on the worksheet.

“Hey,” Kellin whispered. Vic looked up in an instant. “Do you understand what’s going on right now?”

Vic couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, let me help you out.”

The two worked together for the remainder of class. Vic was a good tutor and had actually helped Kellin understand the lesson he hadn’t paid any attention to. Maybe that was why Kellin asked him, “You going to the party tonight?”

Vic was intrigued; he’d never been to a college party before, nor did he ever have the intention to go to one. But when Kellin asked he figured it was time to step out of his comfort zone, especially if it meant he’d get to spend time with his crush.

“Sure, but I need an address.”

“No problem. I’ll text you.”

Vic nodded and watched Kellin as he left the room with the group of boys he walked in with. He let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding and pulled his phone out of him pocket to send a message to his group chat:

Any of you wanna go to a party tonight?

Hell yeah!

He shook his head, not surprised that that was the message to receive a response.

***

Vic was uncomfortable. This wasn’t his scene. Why the hell did he come?

His friends were having way more fun than he was. In fact, they were having so much fun that Vic hadn’t seen them in almost an hour. He’d made them promise that they wouldn’t leave him alone since this was the first college party he’d ever attended, but obviously that was a lie.

He was standing in the kitchen of a stranger’s house with a bottle of hard lemonade in his hand. He wanted to take it easy since he was designated driver. It was a unanimous decision among his friends from the moment he texted them.

He had some really horrible friends.

Vic leaned against a counter and looked out into the living room. Furniture was pushed against the wall to make room for dancing, the television was on playing music from the host’s phone, and people were all over the place drinking, playing drinking games, and socializing. There was a group outside smoking and there were definitely couples in one or more of the bedrooms hooking up.

This definitely wasn’t Vic’s scene.

He’d only agreed to come to this party for one reason, and that reason was nowhere to be seen. He was ready to call it a night, find his friends, and go home. He’d only been there for an hour, but he was bored and nothing going on piqued his interest. That was until…

“Oh shit, the life of the party is here.”

Vic looked toward the entrance of the kitchen and saw an acquaintance, Gabe, walking in with a friend and a smile on his face.

“Who’s here?” Vic asked.

Gabe chuckled in response and pointed to the front door. Vic looked and felt his heart thump harder seeing Kellin Quinn walk into the house. He was wearing a black band tee with the sleeves cut off and rips in it, and black skinny jeans with holes in the knees. His hair was disheveled, as if he’d run his hand through it all day. He looked good.

Vic continued to watch his crush as the young adult said hello to people in the living room.

“Have you been to a party with Kellin before?” Gabe asked, taking Vic away from his staring.

“Uh, no,” he stuttered. “Why?”

Gabe chuckled again and grabbed a plastic cup from the counter, filling it up some ice and spiked punch the host had made. “There’s a reason why we call Kell the life of the party. If you’re gonna be hanging out here for a while just keep him away from the strong stuff.”

Vic looked at him in confusion, to which Gabe explained, “He gets a little out of control when he’s drunk.”

That just confused Vic more. “Out of control how?”

Gabe looked to his friend and laughed. “He just gets really crazy. He kinda forgets he’s in public and does some…questionable things with people.” He walked over to Vic and patted his shoulder. “Just make sure he doesn’t put on a show for everyone tonight. We can’t go through that again.” With that the two boys left the room.

Vic stood there still confused but now a little intrigued. To him, Gabe’s warnings sounded very suggestive. Was Kellin more promiscuous when he wasn’t sober? Did that mean Vic had a shot? He obviously wouldn’t take advantage of the guy, but if it meant that he had the slightest chance of getting closer to Kellin and finally making his move then he’d go for it.

***

Kellin was an interesting drunk, but not in the way Vic thought or had hoped.

Kellin had gone into the kitchen after talking with his friends for a few minutes and greeted Vic. Then he filled a cup with some spiked punch that had way too much alcohol in it to be considered legal and left. Vic, not wanting to miss out on drunk Kellin and his chance to flirt with him, followed him out into the living room. He sat next to his crush on the couch against the wall and sipped his drink along with the other people in the room.

“You guys are boring!” Kellin complained, his words slurring together. At this point he’d gone back to the kitchen for two more refills and was certainly feeling the effects of the drink. “Does anyone wanna dance or something?”

Without a second thought Vic looked at him and answered, “Sure.”

Vic didn’t know if Kellin was into guys, but when he didn’t reject the offer, he took that as a sign that he had a shot at some sensual moves.

Boy, was he wrong.

Vic quickly learned what Gabe had meant when he said Kellin lost control when he was drunk. The raven-haired boy was almost completely out of it and his dance moves showed that. The music that was playing was upbeat with more sexually suggestive lyrics. Vic assumed Kellin would try to grind on him or something. No, instead Kellin was a blur of arms moving back and forth, head bobs, and hips swaying, and not in a sexy way.

The song ended and changed to a faster one and the boy looked like he was being tased. He was sipping from his cup and moving his shoulders and elbows like he was trying to fight his way out of a crowd. Vic had no choice but to stand back and watch to avoid getting hit.

The other people on the dance floor didn’t seem to fazed by it; they’d been to parties with Kellin before and were used to seeing him like this. Vic was just so shocked. Every time he’d seen his crush around campus he was so cool and collected. Now he looked like he needed to be tied down and tranquilized to avoid hurting someone.

Vic slipped away from the scene and back into the kitchen to get Kellin some water. He knew Kellin would need something to lessen the effects of all the alcohol. But then he saw Kellin filling his cup with the spiked punch for the fourth time and he knew it was time to go.

“Nope,” he said forcefully. “I think you’ve had enough for one night.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Kellin pouted. It took everything Vic had not to comment on how his lips looked so inviting.

“Yeah, I’m the worst,” he said dismissively. “C’mon, I’ll take you back to your dorm.” Kellin didn’t object this time, so Vic texted his friends telling them what he was doing and asking if any of them wanted to go with him. All of them told him they were going to stay; his friend Austin told him to use a condom.

Vic refused to reply to that message and led Kellin outside to his car.

The ride to Kellin’s dorm was an interesting one. Kellin couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

“You have such nice hair,” he said as he twirled a lock of Vic’s hair in his fingers. “It’s so soft and long and pretty.”

“Thanks,” Vic mumbled, trying to focus on the road in front of him.

“And you have really pretty eyes. And you have really nice arms. And your voice is hot.”

What? Vic didn’t know how to respond to all of that.

“I know someone who has a crush on you. They think you’re really hot.”

“Is it you?” Vic asked jokingly. He wasn’t prepared for the answer he got.

“Yup.”

His eyes went wide. He looked over to Kellin in hopes to keep the conversation going, but Kellin had engrossed himself in the streetlights they were passing. He was enjoying the “pretty colors.”

A minute later they pulled into the parking lot of Kellin’s dorm building. With much effort Vic was able to get the boy out of the car, into the building, and in the elevator to the third floor where his room was. He took Kellin’s key and unlocked the door.

“You wanna sleep in your bed or do you think the couch would be easier for you?”

“I’ll sleep with you.” Vic rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the shiver that went down his spine when Kellin winked at him after that sentence.

He helped Kellin into his bedroom and got him some water, painkillers, and a trash can in case he needed them. He said goodbye to the boy as he was getting undressed for bed, but not before admiring him without a shirt on for a few seconds.

Vic walked back to his car and shook his head. Well, tonight didn’t go as planned at all, but at least he learned he might have a chance to make up for it.

***

Kellin felt like shit. He’d woken up with a splitting headache and a horrible taste in his mouth. He wasn’t sure how he got back to his bedroom, but he assumed his roommate, Jaime, had dragged him home at the end of the night.

It was quite surprising when he checked his phone and saw a certain message.

Hey Kellin. I don’t want you to freak out when you wake up so I’m sending you this. You got pretty drunk last night and I couldn’t leave you there like that so I took you back to your dorm. There’s water and ibuprofen on your nightstand if you need it and hopefully you found the trashcan. Let me know if you need anything or if you wanna talk about the other night. See you on Monday.

Kellin couldn’t help but smile. His crush had taken care of him when he needed it. That was so-

Wait.

Vic had seen him drunk? Oh no. Vic had seen him drunk. This new revelation led Kellin to emptying his stomach in the trashcan by his bed. He groaned when he was done. I’m never drinking again, he thought as he took the ibuprofen and leaned against his pillows. He did get up to shower and brush his teeth after some time, still regretting his actions from the previous night. He felt the need to apologize to everyone who’d seen him, just like he felt after every party he went to.

So he texted Vic and asked to meet up with him at a nearby coffee shop.

***

Vic couldn’t help but chuckle at the look of embarrassment on Kellin’s face. They were sitting across from each other sipping their coffees and having small pastries. Kellin had asked Vic about his actions the night before, and Vic had told him everything minus his confession that he had a crush him. He didn’t want to embarrass the boy more than he already was.

“I’m so, so, so sorry that you had to take care of me.”

Vic waved him off. “It’s no problem. How are you feeling?”

“I’m alright. I felt like shit when I woke up though. Thanks for leaving the medicine and water.”

Vic nodded and sipped his coffee. They sat in a semi-comfortable silence with Kellin still obsessing over his dancing. He never wanted Vic to see him like that, but now it was out in the open and he was mortified. He was more than positive that he’d lost his chance with the brown-eyed boy.

But Vic still found Kellin to be ridiculously attractive, and last night just made him fall harder than before.

The two eventually threw their trash away and walked out of the coffee shop.

“I’m sorry again,” Kellin said. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We all do and say things we don’t mean when we’re drunk.”

“Yeah, but you-” He stopped himself. “Say things? What do you mean by that?”

Vic blushed and shook his head. “Forget I said anything. I’ll see you in class on Monday.” He turned away to head to his car, intending to leave it at that. But that line had sparked something in Kellin’s memory and he gasped.

“Wait!” Vic stopped and looked back at Kellin who was now standing on the sidewalk with his eyes wide open in shock. “I…I…Did I…”

“Yeah,” Vic answered with a nod, “you told me.”

“Fuck.”

The tan boy walked back over to Kellin who was silently freaking out. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t sweat it.”

Kellin shook his head. “It’s just…” He didn’t know how to explain his feelings. He expected Vic to be more nervous knowing that a guy had admitted that he had feelings for him, but Vic had gotten over that over the course of the night. Kellin didn’t know that and assumed his reaction was because he didn’t feel the same way.

“Are you telling me not to worry about it because you feel bad for me or because you don’t feel the same way and you’re trying to be nice.”

“Honestly?” Vic stepped closer and reached out and grabbed the taller boy’s hand. “Neither.”

Kellin blushed, unable to say anything other than, “Oh.”

Vic, now feeling some confidence after seeing his crush embarrassed, smiled. “How about we start over? We can try this again, but without the alcohol.”

Kellin couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sure.” The two stood there, probably looking weird to passers-by, but they were enjoying the calm, quiet moment of looking into each other’s eyes and wondering how far their relationship could go.

“Wait,” Kellin gasped when a new thought occurred. “So you’re saying you weren’t turned off when you saw me dance last night?”

Vic shook his head with a laugh. “I mean, I was really hoping you’d grind on me, but no, I wasn’t turned off.”

“Really? I thought I did grind on you.” The two shared a laugh. “I think it’s better that I didn’t,” Kellin continued once they’d settled down. “I can grind much better on you when I’m sober.”

Vic bit his bottom lip, his eyes darkening at the thought. “Oh really?”

“Yeah. You wanna find out?”

-----

Yo! This is my first ever one shot so let me know what you think! And if you have any other prompts you'd like to see me write please comment or message me.

Shoutout to my friends in The Kellictive™ for giving me this idea and encouraging me to write it 💜

[samtheflamingomain]

Sam's No Good, Very Bad Tattoo Appointment

I've been sitting and sitting on this story for almost 2 weeks now because of 2 reasons. The first is that it's long, convoluted, and ultimately kinda pointless. The second is that it hits every single button in the elevator of my PTSD, and I didn't realize it until now.

In order to get to the second point quicker, I'll try my best to summarize what happened on the day I started my tattoo sleeve. Spoiler, but the tattoo itself is just fine.

Basically, I waited for 6 hours before I was in the chair, and it took 7h of tattooing with 3 or 4 45-minute breaks where the guy just fucked off somewhere. I got there at noon, started the lines at 6pm, finished at 1am. Luckily he uses the stopwatch app to calculate actual tattooing time, which was just under 4h. And to think I was going to go to the mall after.

In order to explain why/how on earth this took so fucking long, we need to meet the tattoo artist. Here's a list of things about him in the order that I learned them: he's mid-40s, well-known and respected. He's very flaky, cancels last-minute, hard to get ahold of. He doesn't believe Covid is real, or that the vax is safe. He has a Youtube channel, which he plays on a TV on loop in the studio, showcasing his masterfully cringey music videos, mostly screamo covers. He takes a lot of smoke breaks and works very slowly. He's extremely paranoid. He's delusional - having claimed to have dated Cardi B before she was famous - to choose one example out of several dozen outright lies. He thinks Trump won. He's likely schizophrenic, as he talks about believing that someone lives in his walls and moves his stuff around, or maybe it's ghosts, and also he hears whispering when he stands in this one specific spot, can I not hear that too?

Now, that's a lot to unpack. The main reasons this took so long are "he's slow af" and "he takes a lot of smoke breaks", but the paranoia came into play after he finally finished stenciling me. He went to retrieve his tattoo gun, couldn't find it, and instantly came to the conclusion that someone had broken in overnight, magically unlocked his safe and stolen it, rather than him having misplaced it.

Once I'd repeated back the part about the safe, he instantly switched to "it was my new apprentice" and proceeded to have a 2.5h phone call with her, accusing her of stealing, threatening to call the cops, threatening to send someone to her house because also he's in a secret gang that all the known gangs are afraid of. Some of this is in front of me, some of it was outside, on the sidewalk, in full view of passers-by.

Then as he was pacing around the shop he stopped, hung up the phone mid-sentence, opened a drawer and pulled out his gun. The apprentice had quit after the first 10 minutes of being berated so he didn't bother calling her back to apologize, nor apologize to me for the SIX HOUR delay. I'll give him the half hour it took to stencil me, but that's still 5.5 hours I spent just sitting there as he either smoked, took care of his very needy dogs, threated a 19 year old girl, or simply disappeared upstairs.

At first, I didn't want to tell this story because I know it makes me sound like the biggest idiot and doormat on the face of the planet. Not only for waiting for SIX HOURS, but for watching this man descend into lunacy, constantly hitting me with all different flavors of crazy, and then entrusting him to permanently alter my body. But sometimes people will say "oh, new tattoo, when was that?" and I've ended up telling a shorter version to a few people.

They either say "wow, you're so patient!" or "how could you stay that long?" but today I told it to one of my closest friends, my 53-year-old coworker, knowing she'd enjoy the random bits of insanity and just how absurd the whole thing is.

She did enjoy the ride, but at the end of the story she said, "You need to learn to set boundaries."

"Yeah, it was pretty scary letting him tattoo me after all that, but, y'know, I already paid the deposit and jumped through hoops to get the appointment."

"That's what I'm talking about. Sure, he sounds like a nutjob, but maybe that's what makes him a good artist. But I wouldn't let someone who made me wait six hours without so much as an apology tattoo me if it was for free! If I were you, I would've waited until he finished and walked out. You paid for that tattoo with your time."

She's a bit harsh sometimes, but she's absolutely right about the boundaries. I "know" she's right, but now we get to the fun trauma part: I didn't "believe" she was right as it was happening.

Now, I had a rough childhood with some pretty evil people that pretended to be parents, but neither has paranoia or delusions like my tattoo artist legitimately has. But that's where the differences end.

I felt trapped. I was on eggshells because I didn't want him to have a full-blown mental health crisis mid-tattoo. I agreed with everything he said about Covid being fake because I didn't want him to get mad and possibly throw me out. (Despite being known as one of the best in town, his reviews are trash because he's also known for just tossing people he doesn't like, and turning down tattoos he doesn't want to do, including anything religious, which honestly just sounds like you're flushing away money as a tattoo artist).

I had reverted completely to the age of about 16, just before I had begun to accept that my parents were abusive. It seemed as though I'd completely checked my self-respect at the door. Looking back, I realize the reason I can't remember everything in order or in detail, the reason I can't explain my actions, the reason I seemed completely unable to access any of the things I'd learned in therapy and recovery and rehab and sobriety is because I was in fight/flight/freeze mode. It's been a while since I was in it, and I endured 13h straight of it. It's also likely the reason I was legitimately nodding off in the chair and verbally unresponsive by the end of the night.

I wasn't about to kick my tattooist in the dick, so fighting wasn't an option. I came very close to fleeing a few times, but I'd been waiting for hours at that point and it would cost me my deposit. So I froze.

I woke up the next morning feeling like a freight train had hit me. As if I'd spent the previous day at Wonderland then done an 8-hour kitchen shift. I slept 17 hours, watched Youtube for maybe 7 hours, then slept another 13. I had been texting my best friend the day in real-time, but when I sat down to hammer out the story the next day, I simply couldn't.

I thought, "It was 13h of event after event and yet nothing happens, it's almost impossible to tell the whole thing." Then I put it behind me, told a shortened version of the story to a few people, and seemed content to simply forget about it.

While I'm glad that Deb made me realize why I was so mentally drained by that day and why I've been unable to verbalize just how bonkers it was, it really made me question myself.

I like to think I've come pretty far in the 5 years it's been since I last spoke to my parents. I usually am pretty okay with boundaries and not being a doormat, but it's something I've had to actively learn and do, and it just seemed so out of character for 26-year-old-me to act like 16-year-old-me.

Sometimes a situation just hits all the right notes that put you into fight/flight/freeze. The long wait, the creepy music videos, the absolute unpredictability of the person holding power over me... it was a perfect shitstorm.

Stay Greater.

[gingermcl]

Weaponization of music

Did you know that the standard music frequency is 440 hz and this is an unnatural frequency? A 440 hertz frequency disrupts the mind and the body. 432 Hz resonates with 8 Hz, same as the Schumann resonance, the documented fundamental electromagnetic “beat” of Earth. 432 Hz simply feels better.

Research shows music tuned to a 432 hertz frequency is easier to listen to, is brighter, clearer, and contains more dynamic range. Music with this tuning does not need be played at high volumes, thus reducing the risk of hearing damage. However by the 1950s the worldwide music was tuned to 440 hertz instead of 432 hertz.

If musical performances were going to sound the same all over the world, standardization was required. Having a universally accepted tone is why a piano in Toronto sounds exactly the same as a piano in China. There is nothing wrong with standardization, it is the choice of 440 Hz that was strategically calculated to disrupt the psyche of humanity as a whole.

In 1885, the Music Commission of the Italian Government declared that all instruments and orchestras should use a tuning fork that vibrated at 440 Hz, which was different from the original standard of 435 Hz and the competing 432 Hz used in France.

In 1917, the American Federation of Musicians endorsed the Italians, followed by a further push for 440 Hz in the 1940s by Nazi Germans.

In 1953, a worldwide agreement was signed. Signatories declared that middle “A” on the piano be forevermore tuned to exactly 440 Hz. This frequency became the standard ISO-16 reference for tuning all musical instruments based on the chromatic scale, the one most often used for music in the West. All the other notes are tuned in standard mathematical ratios leading to and from 440 Hz.

432 Hz is said to be mathematically consistent with the patterns of the universe. Studies reveal that 432hz tuning unifies the properties of light, time, space, matter, gravity and magnetism with biology, the DNA code, and consciousness. When atoms and DNA start to resonate in harmony with the spiraling pattern of nature, our sense of connection with nature is magnified. The number 432 is reflected in ratios of the Sun, Earth, and the moon as well as in the precession of the equinoxes, the Great Pyramid of Egypt, Stonehenge, and many other sacred sites.

So what’s the big deal? It’s just a difference of 8 Hz. It’s actually quite a nefarious plan. The recent discoveries of vibratory or oscillatory nature of the universe that happened recently show that this contemporary international pitch standard may actually generate an unhealthy effect or anti-social behavior in the consciousness of humans.

There is also a theory which says that the change from 432 Hz to 440 Hz was dictated by Nazi propaganda minister, named Joseph Goebbels. He used it in order to make people think and feel a certain manner, as well as to make them a prisoner of a certain consciousness. 440 Hz is an unnatural standard tuning frequency, is removed from the symmetry of sacred vibrations, and has declared war on the subconscious mind of Western Man.

The powers that be are successfully lowering the vibrations of not only the younger generations but of all of us. Such destructive frequencies turn thoughts towards disruption, disharmony, and disunity. 440 Hz also stimulates our brain – the controlling organ of our body - into a disharmonious resonance, which ultimately creates disease and war in the world. All disease is a disruption in frequency. Atoms are made of waves and vibrations. Therefore everything is sound. A disruptive or unhealthy frequency can cause big problems in a world made of sound waves!!

Both vibration and frequency hold a critically important yet hidden power to affect us, our lives, health, society; our whole world. The science of Cymatics, the study of visible sound and vibration, proves that frequency and vibration are the master keys and the organizational foundation for the creation of all matter and life on planet Earth.

When the sound waves move through a physical medium, such as sand, air, water, etc.; the frequency of the waves has a direct effect upon the structures that are created by the sound waves as they pass through that particular medium. The same will happen with cells in the human body.

Frequency isn’t the only way music affects our civilization. Music lyrics are known to cast spells on the masses. Modern society may not treat music as a magical thing now, but once music was considered to be one of the highest forms of magic. If we look back to ancient times, drums and other instruments were used to celebrate holy-days, invoke trance-like states, or announce the start of a battle. The people in ancient times who sang, danced, and made music were once thought of as spiritually-gifted individuals.

Music magick is still alive and well in modern times. We might not see it in the mainstream music industry, but it’s there if we dig a little deeper. First – think of the way music makes you feel. Music is known to rouse energy and stimulate emotions. Given that energy is what magic is all about, music is a fantastic tool for spellcasting!

A spell is defined as

1- A form of words used as a magical charm or incantation.

2- A state of enchantment caused by a magic spell.

3- An ability to control or influence people as the one had magical power over them.

The intention of any song could very easily be spell casting and the masses would have no idea. The term MC stands for Master of Ceremonies. Concerts are ceremonies. Ceremonies are where ritual magic is done. Are you seeing what is happening here? The masses are being placed under spells and casting negative spells on themselves via their favorite music all the time! They’re also generating energy for these celebrities satanic ritual abuse ceremonies! I’m not saying that you don’t need to listen to music but I am saying you must be very mindful of what you do consume in every way. That includes what material you let into your consciousness. There are apps in every App Store one can download that will switch your music to 432 Hz. I advise everyone to do this. Increase demand could mean more and better apps that convert music to the proper frequency.

One simple song can invoke feelings of joy, sorrow, laughter; essentially every emotion under the sun. One song can whisk us away to a past moment in our lives, good and bad. Music can be used in mental and physical therapy to aid in healing the body, mind, and soul. One can use the emotions felt through music and its unique, fluid energy in magic. Intention can and does make music witchcraft.

Witches can help improve or focus their magic by incorporating music into spells and rituals. Lyrics aren't the only consideration. Beats, measure, instruments, etc. can also be used in music magic.

Music is also used on the people as a form of mind control. Mind control techniques have been noted throughout history dating as far back as Ancient Egypt. Mind control did not enter the realm of modern science until the 1930’s when a physician by the name of Josef Mengele brought it into full practice within Nazi concentration camps. The majority of Mengele’s research within mind control remains classified to this day, however some has slowly come to the surface including the recognition of it being the basis for the covert CIA research program MK Ultra.

Joseph Mengele sounds like a psychopath by all accounts and his mind control programs are nothing short of inhumane. The number of crimes committed against humanity by those in power is too many to count. All celebrities are forced to undergo MK Ultra programming to some degree. This programming breaks down the human spirit and can create alter egos. It is done in order to brainwash these people into doing anything their masters and “fame” requires. Several celebrities have begun speaking out about the torture and programming they endured at the hands of the Hollywood and music industries.

Symbolism is used heavily in mind control programming. The all-seeing eye, demons, and baphomet are just a few of the reoccurring themes that love appearing in entertainment; often in completely unrelated ways to the content. These themes can be noted throughout music videos, movies, and TV shows. The existence of this symbology is one thing I feel can be stated as fact. The symbology is clearly there. Watch see any of the following music videos and then tell me the symbology and themes are a mere coincidence or are directly related to the songs content:

* Lil Wayne – Love Me (Explicit) ft. Drake, Future

* Ke$ha – Die Young

* Lady Gaga – Alejandro

* Katy Perry – Wide Awake

* Britney Spears – Hold It Against Me

If you truly feel that the symbols were fitting and not purposely placed, I will respect that opinion. However I encourage you to search for a breakdown of the above listed videos in order to make sure you are made aware of symbology and themes. There may be some you missed or may not be aware of. It’s also worth noting that these 5 videos are not the only videos out there, they are simply a handful of the hundreds (if not thousands) of music videos that feature these symbols to some degree.

Assuming that these symbols/themes do recur, the question becomes why? Is it a level of programming that they are attempting to inflict on us the viewers? Could it be to desensitize us to their existence and placement throughout society? Or could it simply be artistic coincidence? The answer to these questions lie within. Let this article be a starting point for your own research and findings on all of the aspects of 440 Hz, music magick, and Monarch mind control programming (MK Ultra.) There is a lot of information and well-formulated opinions out there, many worth considering.

Once you have done your research, see what resonates with you as true and don’t be afraid to stand by it even if it isn’t in-line with popular opinion. No matter which side of the spectrum you stand on having an awareness towards this subject is important, and that’s why I felt inspired to write this article.

[halorocks1214]

art comes in many forms

whattup, its ya boi, snatching another #irrelief from @gumnut-logic​‘s challenge because i literally cant write anything else it seems. @eirabach​‘s prompts graced my dash and i was quite fond of “Virgil + Eos + art“ so this is for chu <3

Summary: Virgil wasn’t expecting to give EOS a lesson in human behavior. That’s usually John’s forte, though, he wouldn’t put it past the ginger to sic her on him for this one, the prick.

Virgil was not immune to someone watching him create his works of art.

If he was to be honest with himself, he actually preferred someone in the background as he did so. It gave him a sense of grounding, and it spoke to that inner part that wanted to impress the nearest human like a child would their parent. Look! Look at what I made guys!

Though, he never thought about how he would react to a literal robot being the one to watch him.

Does she even have the same standards as a human?

“Virgil... may I ask a question?”

Oh boy, “Sure?”

She cleared her nonexistent throat (which John definitely taught her that, Virgil betted his new set of brushes on it), “Why do you humans make... art?”

Huh, that wasn’t what he was expecting. It was a fair question, though, since there were a million reasons why humans gravitated toward art as a hobby, and if EOS only looked at examples people haphazardly gave on the internet she probably got overwhelmed.

Setting down his brush, Virgil placed his now-free hand on his hip, “Well, I know I personally, at least, make art as a form of stress relief. Sort of like how Gordon swims laps and John calculates problems over and over again. It gets our minds off the bad things in life that won’t leave us alone.”

The A.I. blinked her lens in contemplation, “Hmm.”

Virgil shrugged as he started painting again. If what she asked was a fair question, then that was a fair response, both from him and her. He gave his answer, and there was nothing else either of them really needed to add to it.

What she said next was also technically a fair response, even if it nearly made him snap his brush in half from shock alone.

“Can you show me how to make art?”

John, I’m going to kill you when you come down next time, just an FYI, “Um, sure, there are some digital art programs I can get John to download for you.”

That got a unique reaction out of the A.I., “There’s more than one kind?”

This was going to be a long conversation.

But a part of him was looking forward to it.

He was still going to chuck the first hard thing he could get his hands on the next time he saw his astronaut brother, however.

---

That rescue sucked ass.

Of course, they did their best and they probably prevented a lot of unnecessary deaths in the long run, but it was one of those rescues where it made them think did they really help at all? Are they actually needed when there’s practically nothing they can do?

Limping into his room, Virgil was stretching his arms over his head when he felt a shiver travel down his spine.

With his arms still in that position, Virgil slowly turned around like a cartoon scene with wide eyes to spy a familiar camera in the corner of his room.

Hopefully, she didn’t pick up on the way he nearly jumped three feet out of his pajama pants.

If she did, John taught her enough manners to not bring it up, “Welcome back. I was hoping to show you something before you went to sleep.”

Breathing heavier than he would have liked, Virgil gulped down his shock, “Oh? What would you like to show me?”

She looked around the room with her singular eye, reminding Virgil of how Gordon or Alan got when they were doing something that made them nervous, which Virgil never expected her to be of all things. Nervous. Anxious.

Eventually, she bit the bullet, “Since John did not need me as much for that last rescue, I was able to play around with that app you showed me the day before.”

Blinking once, Virgil was starting to get at what she wanted, “You wanna show me a picture you made, is that it?”

She flashed yellow for a moment, “... Yes, I would like to. If I am allowed.”

Jeez, she sounded like a kicked puppy sometimes, “Alright, then show me.”

It was another few moments of nothing before a hologram blinked into view. Once his eyes got over the brightness, Virgil looked more closely at the piece of art he was being presented.

It was, ah... it was something.

It was definitely human, that at least Virgil could tell. The lines weren’t clean at all, and while Virgil may not dabble in the digital circles of art society, he knew when someone forgot to delete a layer. Or maybe two. The eyes were noticeably two different sizes, with no whites in them at all, only filled with a weird aqua color with two black dots in the middle. Also, for some reason, this person was growing curved carrots on the top of their head--

Oh. Oh.

Rubbing his hand over his chin with a grin, Virgil gave his final opinion, “Well... your shading could use some work,” a blink of red, “But you got his face shape down okay. A little more practice and I could see you making some real masterpieces.”

She must not have been expecting that because, after a few more moments, her voice was uncharacteristically quiet, “... Really?”

How old was she programmed to be again? “Yeah, EOS, I can see you being a really good artist.”

The A.I.’s lens adjusted as she accepted the answer, “Thank you, Virgil. That really means a lot,” Virgil let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding before abruptly choking on it due to her next words, “I was hoping it was good. I wanted to give it to him as a gift.”

Wait-- “Ah, maybe not that, though.”

EOS froze, “Why not?”

Shit, “Well, I’m just saying, maybe we can work on something that is more, er, ‘refined’? John isn’t a vain person, so maybe we should give him a portrait of, like, stars or something, I don’t know.”

This A.I. really liked silence for some reason, which was probably why she liked following it up by abrupt words even more, “We?”

Whoops.

Well, there was no going back now, “Yeah, like I said, I may not work with digital, like, at all, but I do know art. I’m not saying they’re interchangeable interfaces, but maybe I can give you some points on how to create a piece while you simultaneously look up how to use the different types of brushes in that app?”

Virgil wasn't even aware of the fact that his voice was ever so slightly getting higher and higher pitched as he reached the end of his sentence. Apparently, neither did EOS, “Hmm, well, if anyone knows what John would be looking for, it would be you. Interchangeable interfaces, I thought I was talking to him for a second you know.

Wa-how, okay. She really was John’s creation holy fuck. Christ.

And yet, he found himself chuckling despite it, “Yeah, well, it’s not our fault TIME Magazine keeps getting our names switched around.”

Then she laughed. It was very small and short but it was genuine laughter and Virgil wondered if his helmet actually and truly absorbed everything that blow to the head he got earlier gave him.

Rubbing the back of his neck coyly, he finally meandered over to the bed and flopped down on top of it very gracefully, as in, not gracefully at all. He barely registered EOS speaking once more, “Thank you again, Virgil, for being willing to do this for me.”

The last thing Virgil could do was give a measly thumbs up before that familiar gentle blackness fully consumed him.

EOS could only watch the black-haired Tracy with one last thought. Huh, the internet was right. Artists are weird.

“Goodnight, Virgil.”

She was met by plentiful snores. Goodnight, EOS.

[mini-pretzel]

sweater weather

Genre: ooof that smut, hop on board the angst train whooo, some fluff to help you cope, humour i think? (i tried)

Music: sweater weather

Additional tags: friends with benefits to feelings, slow burn, pining, profanity, oral, teasing, spanking, dirty talk, daddy kink (ok im sorry it just happened ok?), car sex (because beds are for chums)

Word count: 14k

You and Jeongguk have that unspoken rule; just sex, no strings attached. And it’s worked well for you for years. But lately, it’s been harder and harder to keep your feelings separate.

Or

You get turned on by Jeongguk’s constant comfy look and a lot of feelings are involved.

“Fuck you.” you narrowed your eyes at him, hoping that your glare would burn a hole in his head. Your arms were crossed on your chest. “We got pizza last time. I’m sick of it.” your lips thinned. “Why can’t it be chinese tonight?”

Jeongguk didn’t look up from his Switch, too immersed in his quest; unlocking Link’s new armour. “Because it sucks, that’s why. And the one we both like doesn’t deliver.”

“Then it can be something else.” You were half a mind ready to tell him to get his ass up and go drive to pick it up because you were hungry for chinese and, goddamn, as if you were going to let him take that away from you.

You poked him with your toe when he ignored the gesture sank further into the couch with a groan. He didn’t even flinch at your touch. Still playing his game. The little shit.

Jeongguk was sitting on the floor in just a wrinkled white shirt and sweatpants, hair a tangled mess on his head. His eyes were focused as he clicked and moved the pedals around on the console. And yet, despite you being so annoyed with him, he still looked gorgeous in your eyes. Or maybe it was just you with your love for his unkempt boy look.

“I want pizza.” he whined.

You sighed, eye twitching, as you scrolled through the food app on your phone. “Anything besides pizza.”

“But I want pizza.” he repeated. God, he acted like such a child sometimes.

“And I want to punch you in the face.”

“Oooh,” he raised an eyebrow at that, and finally looked away from his game for a moment to send you a wink. “Kinky.”

You grabbed a pillow from behind your head and threw it at his face. It hit him with a satisfying thump and you sank back further into the couch in a grumpy manner. You hated nights when you two couldn’t agree on something, especially on something as simple as food.

“Oof, someone needs to get laid.” you heard Jeongguk say as he moved the pillow back on the couch with a free hand, eyes still on the screen. “Need some help with that?” you could hear the grin in his voice without even looking up from your phone.

“We need to decide on food first.” you replied, though you weren’t against his proposal in the slightest. The sudden heat in your pants told you so. Only Jeongguk could get you aroused just from one simple proposition.

“Pizza.” he mumbled and you heard yourself groan and feeling around the couch for another pillow.

“How about chicken wings?” you tried.

Jeongguk stopped for a moment, pausing his game, eyes calculating as he stared into the distance.

You almost feel pleased with yourself that you finally got to him, but then when he turned to you with a mischievous glint in his eyes and you knew you’ve pretty much lost all hope.

“What about a compromise? A chicken pizza?”

“That’s not a compromise. That’s just you getting pizza.” you frowned and huffed. “Fine, if you’re gonna be like that I’m going to get my own food. You can order your pizza, or whatever.”

“Chicken wings sound great.” he said all of a sudden, his focal attention still glued to his game as he conversed with you.

You tried to hide your grin as you knew why he agreed so quickly.

It was easier for him to give in than have to get off his ass to do something, especially when you were here. He seemed to have gotten used to you being around to take care of the small things. He was a bit of a lazy guy, but you weren’t complaining. You finally achieved a real compromise. You wouldn’t be getting your chinese and he wouldn’t be getting his pizza, but you would both be getting something else just as delicious. Everyone was happy.

“You gave in only cause you want me to do all the work, like always.” you mumbled, mostly to yourself as you punched the buttons on your phone screen to complete the order. The grin was showing a little more on your face. You liked the fact that he needed you, just a little. It made you feel appreciated, especially since Jeongguk wasn’t one for words.

“You know how it is, I do all the work in the bedroom, you do all the work in other aspects; like food.” you saw him grin as you looked up. “That’s what makes this such a great partnership.”

You quirked your eyebrow at him, almost daring him to explain himself as a silence stretched out after his words.

He must have felt your piercing gaze and gotten uncomfortable with the silence because he immediately said, “You know what I mean.” and you both laughed, mostly to ease the situation before an awkward tension formed between the two of you.

Yeah. You did. Partnership as in friendship. You both knew that despite what it might have looked like on the outside to anyone that didn’t know the two of you, this wasn’t anything close to a long term romantic relationship. Or anything romantic for that matter. It was just two friends that had a simple sex arrangement, albeit sometimes getting chicken wings because both were too lazy to cook most of the time.

You knew Jeongguk wasn’t good with the whole dating thing; he had told you so when you met him four years ago when you just got out of high school. The two of you met at a college mixer and instantly hit it off. He was cute, a little dorky, could keep a conversation going and had gorgeous eyes that immediately caught your attention.

Aside from that, he always wore the comfiest of clothes, baggy and usually dark toned, that had awakened your love of boyfriend looks; especially on him.

Interestingly, despite the bagginess, his clothes somehow still gave away that his tanned body underneath was ripped to hell. Sometimes the tshirts he wore showed the curl of his biceps when he tossed golf balls into red cups full of beer. You had always found yourself watching the way his muscles moved on him instead of playing the game whenever you were on the same team.

Initially, the two of you had begun just by being friends without any initial fucking around business, but sexual attraction was there, present and relentless, from day one. And after a year of desperate pining (from both sides, as you later came to find) and secret, sweaty masturbation sessions that only made you crave that physical intimacy just that much more, the whole ordeal had gotten past the point of undeniable.

You had wanted him, and bad. But you didn’t want a relationship. Not with the amount of school work and personal stuff you had going on. And especially not with Jeongguk, who couldn’t keep a fling going for past two days at most.

Then one night after a lot of drinking Jeongguk confessed to this pestering lust that dug away at him for the entirety of the year you’ve known each other. You were surprised to find out just how much Jeongguk had a hard time with not staring at your ass or imagining your mouth sucking him off in every situation imaginable. He hadn’t seem so dirty to you before that, despite you imagining him doing the filthiest things to you at night with your hands in your panties.

You blushed hard at him telling you how hard he would cum thinking about fucking you into the mattress or imagining your hand around his cock as you whispered dirty words in your candy voice into his ear. You were squeezing your thighs together so tightly from how instantly all of his confessions had turned you on.

At some point during the heated discussion the two of you stopped talking and stared at one another. Just then, at that moment, it seemed as though something had finally snapped, the air growing charged between you, and the both of you finally gave in to all of those repressed inhibitions. And the sex, fuck, well, it was something you didn’t know could actually be a real thing that existed.

No one before Jeongguk had come close to the tricks and shenanigans he could pull in bed, and that blew your mind especially the first time you stripped down in front of him and he went for it like an animal in heat. Nipping, scratching, licking, slapping; he didn’t hold back. The way he groped your hips and pulled your hair left you a loud, shivering mess in his arms. He completely broke you apart that night, and put you back together with a hum of his sweet voice and a gentle press of a warm towel afterwards, when your body was buzzing from your pheromone high after being fucked right for once.

After that fateful night, everything you liked to experience in the bedroom, Jeongguk could provide for you. Even the things you didn’t even know you wanted. He would always bring out to the best of his capabilities when it came to sex with you. His abilities were quite impressive, and the guy knew it too. You could tell he reveled at making you scream his name when he hit the spot just right.

Thus, your sexual relationship was born.

It was the perfect arrangement; university life was stressful. Deadlines, exams, essays, the horrible group work where nobody did anything and it was impossible to set a date to meet. So much of it had caused sexual frustration to bottle up in you. And with the tight schedule it was too demanding-- impractical, even--for you to hold a steady relationship just for the sake of getting off. Not that either of you were interested in that sort of thing in the first place. You and Jeongguk were both casual hook-up seekers. A kiss here, a touch there, a bit of a rough grind there. There was so much to explore, so many bodies to feel and experience. Especially in college.

You didn’t bat an eye when you saw Jeongguk leave with other girls at parties, because you knew exactly how it was between the two of you. He would come to you when he needed you or vice versa. Some nights he wanted someone else, and some nights you both wanted each other. And you had no doubt that he’s seen you leave with other guys as well. There was never a problem of jealousy between you, since both of you knew you had each other to lean on if either needed a quick fuck and no one else was available.

There was never anything more than that, and there didn’t need to be.

But the one thing neither of you could deny, was the pull and the incredible sexual chemistry you had between one another. So, you created an almost unspoken agreement between the two of you; you were friends, great friends that enjoyed each others company. Friends that also just so happened to fuck when things got a little too stressful or difficult to deal with at times.

The two of you would hang out and do things that your other friends in your friend group did. Like watch movies and eat out, help each other out with assignments, argue over sports and other stupid things. But you didn’t talk about feelings, you didn’t kiss or hold hands and you didn’t go on dates. You were just friends with sexual benefits.

And it was perfect.

You heard the door bell ring and as you looked up from your phone, feeling as if you were awakened from a trance. You hadn’t even been looking at Taehyung’s new instagram post, despite it being in front of you for the last few minutes, instead much preferring to let your mind ponder over your history with Jeongguk.

“Must be the food.” you mumbled, mostly to yourself as you prepared to get up from the couch.

“I got it.” you heard Jeongguk’s voice as he got up from his spot and handed you his Switch. “Kill some bokoblins for me, will yah?” he winked before leaving you dazed on the couch with his most prized possession in your hands.

You stared at his back and shoulders as he walked over to the door to accept the food delivery and felt yourself clutch the console tighter in your hands as a sudden heat spread on your cheeks.

The arrangement was perfect and had worked for you for a while.

You swallowed and tried to steady your quickly beating heart as you looked down at Link on the screen and started playing like nothing was wrong.

Well, it did, it very much did.

You narrowed your eyes on the screen, praying your heart would ease up before he returned.

Until recently.

In the last couple of months, as the end of college was approaching and a lot of reflecting was done on your part as the fear of impending doom was upon you; you had felt yourself slipping more and more into what people called feelings.

You were suddenly forced to face your future--which looked uncertain despite how fast it was approaching--and you had a lot of decisions to make in the meantime. What were you going to do with your degree? Would you stay in the same town or move? Were you going to keep going with your friends with benefits relationship with Jeongguk? And what was this thing with your heart rate speeding up whenever he looked at you?

You found yourself thinking about the guy more and more, found him slipping into your mind during the most mundane things that took place in your life. Getting groceries? You would immediately start wondering if he’s eaten. Checking out books at the library? You’d wonder if he read it and if not, what he’d think of the book. Hanging out with friends? You wondered if he would join you. Making shots at a party? You’d wonder if he was anywhere nearby watching your pouring skills at work.

Everything you were doing, Jeongguk seemed to be in the back of your mind, as if he was there living your life with you, and you found yourself pining for him in other ways than just sex. You had just wanted him nearby, with you.

And that was scaring you, because you liked what the two of you had and weren’t about to let something as stupid and fickle as emotions get in the way of a long term good thing.

But it wasn’t so simple. Your feelings weren’t easy to control, in fact they were making it quite difficult for you. No matter how much you told yourself that Jeongguk didn’t feel the same way, or that he didn’t feel anything at all (you were certain that the guy didn’t dig deep into his feelings), the heart-wrenching clutch in your chest pushed back at you, eager to be fulfilled.

And it tired you out. You didn’t want to be that girl. You didn’t want to be the one that gets involved in something as simple as friendship with sex only to fall head over heels over the guy. That was not you. You weren’t into feelings. You didn’t like feeling vulnerable with anyone.

You liked quick hook-ups, tactile satisfaction and no obligations. The only depth you wanted to feel in a relationship was how deep the guy of the night could thrust into you.

You liked being in control of yourself and your emotions, and this was not control. It was slippery slope to a disaster. And you had to regain your resolve and focus, somehow.

Maybe if you took someone new home tonight. That would take your mind off Jeongguk. You had always enjoyed the feel of a new body pressed against you. Someone new and eager to please with a whole new set of skills and pleasure buttons that you would press and undo with your touch.

Yes, that sounded like a solid plan.

“Are you listening to me?” you heard Hoseok say your name and it snapped you out of your thoughts. You blinked at stared back at him, suddenly aware that you just missed everything he talked about.

“Sorry, Hobi. I was thinking about something.”

“Uh, yeah, that much is obvious.” he laughed as you broke away from his gaze to stare at the textbook in front of you, utterly forgotten due to your insistent daydreams.

You and Hoseok had a presentation due tomorrow, but your mind kept wandering as you were going over bullet points of the main facts to present. This wasn’t like you. You were usually on top of assignments, but this new thing developing inside you had really messed with your concentration.

“Sorry about that, Hobi, I guess I’m not feeling too well today.” you apologized to him again, feeling embarrassment creep upon your cheeks as you played with the corner of the page. You withheld from meeting his eyes because you knew, you just knew, that the perceptive Hoseok would see right through you and start asking questions if you weren’t careful.

You cleared your throat, trying to shake off the fog that was Jeongguk in your mind. “What were you saying?” your grip over your pen tightened as you made movements as if you were going to write down his words.

“I was saying,” Hoseok began, and you could feel the intensity in his stare during the brief pause before he continued, “that we should include some statistics into the presentation, to help with the validity of the statements.”

You made a short note of his words. “That’s a good idea. Maybe we could make some graphs?” you added, drawing a box next to the written words, “Easy to decipher, especially in the back. Then nobody would have to read walls of text.” you explained before daring to spare a glance at him.

His gaze was as dissecting as you imagined it to be and you quickly looked back at your notes.

“You’re hiding something.”

Fuck.

You forced out a laugh, albeit a little hoarsely, which obviously showed your discomfort with the action. “What do you mean, Hobi? You’re being ridiculous.”

You heard him say your name in a firm voice, something akin to a mother’s tone used to discipline a child, and your lips tightened.

Not now, please, this was the last thing you wanted, especially now. Hoseok couldn’t know. He was already worried about Jeongguk and yours nightly escapades. Saying anything about your developing feelings into the mix would definitely stir something bad. You knew he’d blame Jeongguk even though it’s not his fault, you had wanted it. You had requested the arrangement. And it was you who was falling for him, like a goddamn idiot.

“You’re barely paying attention to the assignment. That’s not like you.” Hoseok observed, and you could feel his gaze burn into you as you fiddled with your pen nervously. “Also you have that frown on your face when you’re spaced out, and that only happens when something is bothering you.”

Fuck.

He leaned back, crossing his arms. “So, spill. We don’t have all day.”

When you remained quiet to his demand, he sighed again before saying your name again. “You know I’ll find out eventually.” you could hear his voice softening. “I just want to help before it gets any worse.”

There was that care and concern that Hoseok was known for.

You swallowed thickly, touched by his words, but not ready to divulge such a shameful secret. “Thank you, Hobi, for your concern.” you cleared your throat after a pause. “There’s some things going on that I’m dealing with, and I’m not comfortable talking about them just yet.”

It was no use to lie to him, you knew that, so you opted into buying whatever time you could to deal with these feelings before breaching on the topic again. Which you knew you would have to. Very soon. This was Hoseok you were talking about, he would find a way to bring it up again.

You looked up at him and found his eyes full of something you couldn’t quite place. They were gentle, but attentive. Hoseok studied you for a moment before shutting his lids and giving you a curt nod.

“Alright, I’ll drop it.” he leaned back toward you, eyes blazing, and placed his still crossed elbows on the table. “However, if I see you with that frown on your face again, I can’t promise I won’t try to slap whoever put it there.”

You stared at him for one long moment, knowing exactly what he meant, and who he was talking about. A small smile--a foolish attempt to ease the tension--formed on your face as you placed a hand on his forearm. “I promise, Hobi. It’s nothing serious. In a few days I’ll be just like I always am. You’ll see.”

He pursed his lips, hints of doubt showing behind his stare. But he did seem to relax a bit from your touch. “Okay, I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

“I promise, I’ll be just fine.”

You will be. After you find yourself a nice boy to help you take your mind off of Jeongguk.

“Why are we here, Jeongguk?” you heard yourself asking, more surprised than annoyed, your eyes glued to the sea in fascination. It was mid-autumn, the classes were in full swing and you had a butt load of assignments to do, yet somehow Jeongguk had managed to get you away from all of that with the promise of a late night drive.

He had somehow remembered how much you loved those. You were surprised he actually listened to you, considering how often your conversations took place over him playing video games. But he paid attention, apparently. And now you were standing on a deserted beach with the sky a little too dark and the wind a little too cold for your liking.

“You said you always wanted to go to the sea.” you heard his voice behind you and turned to meet him.

“Uh, yeah, in the summer time, you dolt.” you threw a playful punch at his bicep and he pretended to be hurt by your assault, rubbing his arm and cursing you softly in a hushed voice. He still looked good with his grey puma tracksuit and mess of a hair. So natural, so comfortable and easily kissable, it made something in your chest tighten at the thought. Oh no, there it is again.

“Hey, at least you’re here, princess.” he tried to sound annoyed and you rolled your eyes at the tease behind the nickname.

“It’s too cold to do anything.” you pointed out. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s autumn. And autumn is usually cold.” you hugged yourself to add emphasis and shivered even though you didn’t feel that cold.

You saw him laugh. It was rich, low noise that made his Adam’s apple dance on his throat. You caught yourself staring despite not wanting to. Your heart thumped.

Oh no.

“It might be cold out here, but the water is warm.”

Yeah, right.

“I’m not going into the water. No way. You couldn’t pay me.”

He pouted, and it hurt you physically at how cute he looked. “You’re such a party pooper. You need to learn how to live.”

“Jeongguk, we don’t even have swimsuits with us. How are we supposed to swim? Do you want me to get my clothes wet?”

He grinned. “Who said anything about clothes?”

You were taken aback for a moment, with your mouth open. Then you quickly shut it and your eyes widened as his words sank in. Did he-

“Y-You don’t mean…”

Jeongguk walked closer to you and leaned in, eyes wicked and full of mischief. “Strip. We’re going skinny dipping.”

You could smell the cologne on him and it made your mind feel dizzy. Skinny dipping? In the middle of October? What was this guy on?

“Are you crazy? We could get sick!” you protested weakly as he started taking off his sweatshirt.

“Won’t happen. The water’s too warm.” He was stepping out of his pants now and it clearly showed that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Oh no.

You held your breath for a moment. You could never get used to seeing Jeongguk naked. The sculpture of his body and toned muscles, and how wonderfully defined his features were; from his shoulders to his calves and the perfect balance of proportions. Smooth and easy on the eyes. Perfect for biting, nipping and grasping on with your fingers. You could stare forever and never get enough.

“But what about after? We don’t even have towels.” your voice sounded so weak, you felt yourself slipping.

“I have some in the back trunk.”

He’s-

“You really planned this, haven’t you?” you looked at him incredulously.

He smiled and pressed himself against you, hard enough that you could feel his dick against your stomach even through your clothes. He was half-hard. Fuck. That wasn’t making it any easier. Why did he have to look so charming and pure when doing something far from it too?

“I’m not sure about this, Jeongguk.” your voice trembled, your hands tightened around you. You weren’t usually uncomfortable being naked around him, but something about this was making you nervous. This wasn’t something the two of you usually did. Or, like, ever, if you were honest.

And the novelty of it was making the thing blooming in your chest expand further. Oh no.

However, it would make sense for him to do this, it was mischievous and thrilling, like he was. The thought of being young and wild like this, and the excitement of getting caught. It was all so him, it hurt. And he would probably want to fuck after too. It made perfect sense.

You wouldn’t meet his eyes, so he placed his fingers under your chin to lift your face to face him. His eyes were dark, warm and gentle, but had that glint that was Jeongguk. Sweet, but far from innocent. You had come to know that for sure.

He said your name with the softest pronunciation, the vowels sliding off his tongue easily with years of practice and care, and you felt your knees go weak. Fuck, please, no. The way he said it had almost made you melt.

“You need to learn to let go.” you heard him speak in an even softer, breathy voice, just barely above a whisper.

You stared at him, transfixed, caught between the pools of his eyes and glistening of his lips. You swore he could easily kiss you right then and there--and you’d let him--but neither of you moved, stuck and staring. You were too frozen to move, too afraid to break the moment and have it end, but also afraid to lean in and indulge yourself in something that would ruin everything.

“A-Alright. Fine. But if I get sick, it’s on you.” you spoke, and sounded much more confident than you felt.

He laughed again, breaking the tension you felt in your chest. “Fine. If you get sick, I’ll buy you pizza.”

You smiled. “Deal.”

Then you shed your clothing, carefully placing it next to his and made your first steps to the ocean, the cold air nipping at your exposed skin. You prayed Jeongguk was right and the water was as warm as he had said.

You saw him run past you and jump into the water with a gleeful laugh, a huge splash emerging after him.

“Dude, what the hell?” you yelled as you got hit by some of the aftermath of his childlike mischief. The water had not felt as cold as you had originally feared, it was actually nice and warm, almost as if it was summer.

“C’mon, get in before I make you.” you heard his voice but before you were able to respond his hands were already on your hips and you were slung over his slippery shoulder.

“Hey- wait! Jeongguk!” you wiggled, but to no avail, his grip on you was tight. Your backside was exposed so lewdly to the air that it made your cheeks redden, especially because Jeongguk kept a steady hand on one of your ass cheeks.

He started moving further into the water and you suddenly realized what he was about to do.

“No- dude I-”

His laugh echoed in your ears followed by a loud hard smack of him hitting your ass and your blush deepened.

“Ready?”

“Wait- no I-”

And suddenly you were airborne and time seemed to stop. He actually did it. That mother-

When you hit the water and felt it go in your nose and through your hair you realized just how warm and nice it was. For a moment there was just the muffled sound of waves and comforting wetness. You could feel the water envelop itself around your body almost as if giving you a hug. It was actually kind of relaxing. The numbness of it all. You stayed under just for a moment, savoring the feeling.

You had never been able to let go like that before. This was so foreign to you, it made your skin tingle from excitement of experiencing something new. Only Jeongguk would make you do something like this; make you come out of your comfort zone like that and not hate it.

When you reached the surface again you started coughing as the water came out of your nose, moving your legs to ensure that you stayed above water. You rubbed your eyes to see that Jeongguk was also wet from head to toe was swimming around you in circles.

“You are the most insufferable person I have ever met.” your eyes stung from the salt water but there was a smile on your face as you said that. You felt alive. What has this boy done to you.

“But I was right -- it’s warm.” he looked proud.

You laughed. “I hate you.”

“I know.” he smiled, something gentle behind his eyes that almost made you give away something you didn’t want to admit to yourself. “Swim with me.”

Your heart squeezed in your chest, and that was the first time when you realized that you were falling. Falling for the boy who was your best friend. Falling for the boy you would have sex with to ease the tension in your academic life. Falling for the boy in the comfy clothes and wrinkled sheets. Falling for the boy who’s name was Jeon Jeongguk and who was slowly becoming the only person you wanted to talk to, sleep with and just be around.

Oh no.

Your eyes shot open and you found yourself staring at the darkness of your ceiling. You weren’t in the sea anymore, but in the comfort of your bed. You inhaled a strangled breath and closed your eyes trying to understand what just happened.

It was a dream, a dream of previous events that took place last fall. The night Jeongguk took you out for a drive and roped you into skinny dipping. And after that you ended up doing more than just swimming, particularly in the back of his car. If you thought about it long enough you could still remember how hot his tongue felt between your legs and how easily you came apart around him.

You whimpered.

That was also the first night you realized that you may have liked him more than just a friend and the occasional fuck buddy.

Your teeth bit hard into your lower lip.

Drat, now Jeongguk was following you into your dreams. First it was your conscious thoughts, and now he’s conquered your subconsciousness too. You almost laughed at how it was such a Jeongguk thing to do, too. That guy never half-assed anything he set his mind to. He might have been lazy in some things, but he was intense with everything that mattered to him; like video games, sex and editing on his computer.

And making sure he was on your mind 24/7, apparently.

You exhaled slowly and tried to steady your beating heart with your palm. What time was it? You tilted your head to see the green numbers stating 3:08am next to your bed.

It was quiet, save from the soft snoring coming from beside you.

Wait, snoring?

You blinked and turned your head to the side to find a guy sleeping soundly next to you. There was barely any light in the room, but you could sort of make out his features. It wasn’t Jeongguk, but he closely resembled him. That was something you hadn’t noticed when you picked him up at Hoseok’s house party last night.

You held in a groan. Great, now you were even bringing people that looked like him into your bed to try and get over him.

You were so far up Jeongguk’s ass it wasn’t even funny anymore.

You brought your hand up to your face to massage the bridge of your nose. This whole thing was ridiculous. You just wanted to go back to when the only thing you felt for Jeongguk was friendliness and lust, without all of the complicated and clingy feelings.

You heard the guy move slightly next to you before plopping onto his other side, facing away from you, and found yourself sighing.

The guy was alright. He held himself in bed fine. Was a good size too, and it definitely caught you off guard at first, but still it was nothing to write home about. You hadn’t remembered his name and couldn’t be bothered to anyway.

You hated to admit it to yourself, but despite the guy’s decent performance, he still wasn’t Jeongguk. And the fact that you were even comparing based on who he was as a person and not his skills in bed left a bad taste in your mouth.

Especially since the only reason you came was because in your last desperate moments nearing close to the orgasm you imagined it was Jeongguk fucking you and not some random guy that looked like him.

You shook your head, feeling the shame wash all over you.

You were truly fucked if you didn’t figure a way out of these feelings.

A chime of your phone broke you out of your daydream. You sighed as you put your pen down on the book, all over pages and pages of homework you’ve yet to finish. It was going to be a long evening and you were already dreading it.

You picked up your phone to check the messages, sliding past countless instagram notifications.

Tae: hey u in for tomorrow night? wings, beer and that horrible movie that jimin picked out.

You stared at the text for a moment. You always met up with the guys for movie night. Always. But now with the whole Jeongguk situation you were hesitating and didn’t think you could bring yourself to come over. What if you stare at him for too long? What if he wears his puma tracksuit again like he did that night at the beach? It was a weakness of yours and he knew it. What if you start stuttering when answering him like a fool? You weren’t that girl. You never were and damn you if you were ever start being one because of some boy.

You had to deal with this issue first before laying your eyes on Jeongguk again.

But who knew, maybe he wouldn’t be there? It was a very unlikely, but worth a shot.

You: maybe, i’m drowning in assignments. who else is coming?

You clicked to check other messages when you already got a reply.

Tae: same as always. jin, jimin & jeongguk. the whole j gang.

Your hand tightened around your phone as you typed your answer.

You: i probably won’t be able to make it this time. lots to do. sorry. let me know how it goes.

In a few moments, Taehyung responded.

Tae: alright, but u hmu if anything changes.

You: thanks, i will.

You didn’t.

“I can’t believe you made me do that.” you said, wet and shaking from the cold as Jeongguk opened his trunk to grab you both towels.

“I can’t believe you’re acting like you didn’t enjoy it.” he winked at you as he threw the towel over your head. It landed softly over your face, shielding your view of him and you raised your hands to begin drying your hair with it.

“It was alright.” you mumbled, not being completely honest. In actuality, you had really enjoyed it. Before, you had never considered skinny dipping as something you would partake in your life, or take pleasure in, for that matter. But Jeongguk had changed that. He had changed a lot of things for you, that boy.

“Uh huh, just alright.” he chuckled and wrapping a towel around his waist and opening the backdoor of his vehicle. “Hand me the clothes, I’ll toss them in.”

You grabbed the folded clothes from your underarm--the ones you folded cause he couldn’t be bothered to--and handed them to him. Jeongguk threw them in without a care and you winced at how they probably landed messily on the backseat.

“Alright, now that that’s done.” he turned to you and placed his calloused hand on the side of your neck and trailing it down your shoulder, the motion erupting goosebumps all over your body and sending heat down between your legs.

“Why don’t we do something even more fun?” his eyes darkened as he said that and you held in a whimper at how his gaze trailed your body, hungry and eager. You suddenly remembered that the only towel you had was drying your hair so you were completely naked in front of him. You felt your knees start to shake from anticipation. You wanted him all over you, for him to touch you in that way that always broke you.

“Sure, ok, yes.” You said, maybe a little too awkwardly for your liking, but Jeongguk didn’t seem to mind as he moved you by your hips, fingertips gripping your skin roughly and pushed you into the backseat.

You felt your head fall into the pile of clothes he had so nonchalantly tossed in a few moments before and decided that they would work great as a pillow. Did he plan on that? You didn’t know or care. The leather felt cold against your bare skin, but you found that excited you more than anything.

Jeongguk wasted no time climbing on top of you and spreading your knees apart, bearing all of you to him. A blush spread on your face from the action, and yet you impatiently bucked your hips up, wanting him to touch you all over. You could feel yourself dripping just from his gaze and you were shameless in your yearning.

“Please.” you begged. “Jeongguk, please touch me.”

“Mmm, how do you want it?” he inquired, his fingers trailing up and down your thighs. You shivered, a smile tugging at your lips. God, you loved how he teased you. This was just the beginning stage. Soon, his roughness would come out and just the mere thought of that made your insides squirm.

“The usual, please.”

A wicked grin spread spread on his face and he tilted his head back, hair falling over his eyes and his tongue running over his bottom lip.

“Please, what?” his hands reached your ass and gripped your cheeks roughly and spread them apart. You let out a moan, keen on being touched, on being filled, clenching your pussy lips against nothing. And you knew he could see it. See how much you wanted it, wanted him.

“Please, daddy.”

“Good girl.” you felt a hard smack on your ass and arched your back as you moaned even louder. Fuck, you loved his level of rough. It was just starting.

“Please, daddy, fill me up with your large cock.” you whined out, moving your hips, aching and desperate.

“Mmm, I love it when you beg, kitten.” he brought your thigh close to his lips for a kiss then you felt a sting from his bite and whimpered, your legs shaking.

He stared at you from his position, his eyes dark orbs that could swallow you up if you weren’t careful. And you weren’t. You never were when it came to sex with him. “Make those noises for me, kitten. Make noises for daddy.”

You nodded obediently and let out another loud whimper when his calloused fingers trailed up your wet slit. Not going in, or rubbing, but just trailing. God, it drove you mad.

A soft whine escaped your lips as he slowly moved his fingers up and down, coating them in your juices while his mouth was biting down into the flesh of your thigh. With every bite he was getting closer and closer to your cunt and the anticipation of what he was going to do was stirring in your belly.

“Daddy.” you gasped out as he stopped inches away from where you wanted him.

“Yes, kitten?” his hot breath was hitting your erect clit.

You groaned. “Eat me out, please.”

You expected him to reply, for him to say something snarky back or keep teasing you further, but he surprised you by fulfilling your request by licking a long stripe up and down your slit. And as soon as his tongue made contact with your folds it was like electricity ran through your veins.

A harsh breath escaped your throat and you bit onto the flesh of your wrist. He had always known how to use his tongue in just the right way to make you squirm under his mercy.

“Ah, ah, ah,” you felt his tongue leave you and you made your hips follow it in a desperate attempt to feel it on you again. “What did I say about noises, kitten?”

You swallowed, moving your hand. “To make them.”

“Good girl.” one of his fingers poked at your entrance and he smiled when he heard another one of your noises. “Now, will you be good and do as you’re told?”

“Yes.” you bucked your hips against his finger and felt it slide in just a bit.

“Yes, what?” the grip on your thigh got tighter.

You grinned. “Yes, daddy.”

Another slap on your ass that you relished in.

And then his fingers--yes, fingers, not one, but two--were back at toying with your entrance. He took his time gathering all of your juices on them before sliding them in and out with much more force than you expected. It had caught you off guard and the feeling stung, but the pain quickly subsided as he kissed your thighs with every stroke.

“Just like that, kitten.” he cooed as he heard your voice get louder with every thrust, his fingers making loud and wet sounds as they slid in and out of your cunt.

You eyes were shut and your whole body shook, covered in a sheet of sweat. Ugh, you needed him in you so bad. But you knew he wasn’t done yet. He barely did anything to you.

You heard him let out a grunt as he stared at his fingers disappearing into your warmth, as if mesmerized by the view. You wished you could see what he saw. He wet his lips and you bucked your hips, urging him to lick you again. And he did, enveloping his mouth all over your clit, entrapping it in the hotness of his mouth.

Your head fell back and you stared at the ceiling of the car, stars dancing in your eyes. Your hands found their way into his hair, tangling in the damp curls and tugging on the strands harshly. Fuck, how you loved his tongue.

Jeongguk moaned against your clit, slipping more fingers in you to stretch you out and you shuddered against him, broken noises trailing from your mouth. You were suddenly glad the both of you were in a secluded part of the beach, because you were sure you were much louder than you usually were. And you could tell Jeongguk was pleased about that.

“Mmm, you taste so good, kitten.” he trailed his tongue across your folds, bringing it up and flicking it teasingly against your clit, making you jerk. “Like saltwater, candy and you. I could eat you all day.”

You blushed at his words, staring into his eyes for a still moment and you felt something tighten in your chest.

Oh no.

You bit your lip, acting like nothing was wrong, like there wasn’t anything growing in your chest. “Fuck me, daddy? I’ve been such a good girl.” you smiled sweetly. “Please?”

He smirked back at you, his teeth so perfect and white. He looked so handsome with his hair wavy from the saltwater, riled up in tangles from your hands, with that mole hidden underneath his lower lip and with that smile that made his cheeks look puffy and cute, much more innocent that he actually was, but it made your heart flutter nonetheless.

“In a minute, kitten. You like it rough, right?”

You nodded.

“Then daddy needs to be rough with you first, before he fucks you into the seat.”

A rush ran down your spine and a grin spread on your face. “Be as rough as you want, daddy. I can take it. You know how well I can take it.” you glanced at him, eyes dark.

He growled and surged forward, removing his fingers from inside you. You were about to complain over the lack of fulfillment, but as soon as he was towering over your body you forgot all about it. He looked too good, the muscles of his chest and stomach displayed in front you. They were taunting you, reeling you in. You wanted to bite, taste and touch every part of him.

His lips found your neck and you smiled at the way his teeth grazed your sensitive skin, nibbling, sucking, scraping. You knew there would be a mark next time you looked in the mirror, but you didn’t care. You reveled in this. In being marked. Almost as if owned by him. Almost as if he was yours, too.

The hand that was covered in your juices squeezed one of your breasts as he left trails of wet kisses and hickeys down your throat and collarbone. And you felt yourself rub against him, against the towel that was so inconveniently in the way.

“Want me to take it off?” he asked, and you felt his smile against your skin.

“Yes, daddy.” your nails scraped against the back of his neck and he grunted, landing a harsh slap on your the side of your ass once more.

His free hand grasped his towel and it was thrown somewhere to the other end of the car. Neither of you really cared where, it wasn’t important. What was important was that his dick--thick, hard, tip red and precum leaking--was hitting against his toned stomach and your wet cunt was prepped and ready to take him.

“Please,” you mumbled, staring at him with your most innocent eyes. “Fill me up, daddy.”

He groaned, pupils dilated as he took you in and moved to position himself better between your legs. “Careful what you ask for, kitten.”

You were about to retort that you knew exactly what you were asking for when he moved away from you to search for condoms in the compartment between the two front seats.

It felt like it took forever for him to do that, but you weren’t about to complain. Safety was important. Especially for the two of you who were so sexually active with multiple partners.

“You look hot putting on the condom,” you mumbled, eyes trailing all over him as he slid on the rubber over his length. “I could stare at you all day.”

He let out a throaty chuckle. “Good to know, kitten.” and then he was towering over you again, aligning his dick against your hole with his hand. “I wouldn’t mind if you stared all day. I like an audience.”

And with a sly wink he pushed himself into you and you felt your mind go numb.

Pleasure erupted between your legs as you felt his dick fill you up, stretching your inner walls. Your eyes were swimming and your body was shaking, the wave of relief washing through your muscles. Finally. He was finally in you. Now he would be even rougher.

“Fuck, you feel so good.” he grunted and stopped after he hit the end of his length and you felt the hair around his pelvis tickle against your skin. The both of you stayed like that for a bit, savoring the proximity, the pulsing of his dick, the tightness of your walls. “I love fucking you so much.”

And then he started moving, setting a fast pace, roughly fucking himself into you and relishing in every moan that it brought out of your mouth.

“Y-yes, daddy,” you chocked on the amount of saliva in your throat, “f-fuck yes.”

You felt him breathe in your ear as he pulled you close and fucked you even harder, nails digging into your hipbones. “Fuck,” he breathed out your name, “I love it when you call me that.”

His voice sounded dangerously low and it sent chills down your spine. God, you were drowning in what this man was doing to you.

Your head was bobbing against the car door from his thrusts, but you didn’t care because the only thing on your mind was Jeongguk and how good his dick felt inside you. Fuck. He moved your hips up in his grip and that caused the tip of his cock to hit that spot. You screamed out his name.

“Louder.”

You did again.

“Louder, kitten.”

Your voice was hoarse from your lewdness, but you obliged.

“Louder.”

Fuck.

“I’m coming, Jeongguk!” you bucked your hips against him and were sent over the edge, your orgasm crashing all over you, enveloping you from the tips of your fingertips to the very end of your toes, turning your skin tingle hot in between.

You felt him tug at your hair as he sped up his pace, thrusting into you so hard you could’ve sworn you were becoming part of the leather seat under you.

“Cum for me, daddy.” you grunted out and wrapped your whole body around him, taking him all in.

And that did it. Jeongguk crashed into you in the very last of his force, his face shoved into the crook of your neck. His body twitched as he came and you felt his dick pulsing inside you with every blast. You wished he didn’t have the condom on so you could feel his hot cum filling you up inside you.

“Fuck, kitten.”

You both were breathing hoarsely, completely wasted and fucked out.

“You’re too good to be true.” you heard him say in your ear in between breaths.

Your chest tightened again.

So was he. And you couldn’t have him.

You heard your name amidst the laughter and piercing sound of the latest R’n’B song playing in the background and turned your head to the source of the sound. It was Taehyung, incredibly tipsy and swaying back and forth as he made his way toward you.

“You look as great as always, sweetheart.” he slurred out and winked which prompted a laugh out of you. Leave it to Taehying to start shamelessly flirting when drunk. He had always been the one that went his hardest at parties. No alcohol was off limits for him and shots were his best friend. You were impressed at how well he handled his liquor, you tried to out drink him one time but couldn’t keep up with his pace. The man was a monster when it came to drinking games.

“And you look drunk as always, Tae.” you smiled and held your hand out to help steady him but he waved it away.

“I’m good, sweetie. Not my first rodeo, you know?”

You nodded and let your arm drop. “What’s up? Did you need something?”

“Aside from another shot of tequila and an tight ass in my face?” Taehyung asked listing the things on his fingers. His cheeks looked so red, he must have drank much more than he let on.

You stayed quiet, an amused smile playing on your lips before he took the silence as a sign to continue. “Not much, just fulfilling a favour.”

You quirked an eyebrow. “Which is?”

Taehyung looked at you expectantly. “Jeongguk is looking for you.”

You felt your heart thump hard at that and your smile faltered before you could stop it. You tried not to let the fear prickling fear show on your face though.

The truth is, you’ve been avoiding Jeongguk since last Friday night when Taehyung had texted you. The last time you saw him was when the two of you had chicken wings together. And even throughout that whole meal you could feel the thing in your chest get more persistent and you were scared you would slip up and let it show. Especially around him.

So you were dealing with it the best you could by finding different guys to take home every night you went out during that time. Which meant you left Jeongguk high and dry. Which you felt bad for, but at the same time, you needed to fix this reoccurring problem of feelings. Once that was dealt with, it would go back to normal. At least that’s what you were hoping for real hard.

However, it has already been a while since you started avoiding him, so he must have noticed. The other guys sure have; they had told you so. It became pretty clear by your repeated declining of Taehyung’s plans to hang out when Jeongguk was present. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

You realized that Taehyung was still staring at you, waiting for you to reply and you smiled sheepishly through your guilt. God, you were so in over your head with this whole Jeongguk thing. You wanted the ground to open up and swallow you whole.

“Thanks, Tae. I’ll go find him.”

And off you went, on your--hopefully--fruitless search for Jeongguk in this large party full of dancing bodies and encompassing tunes. You were really trying to keep it together in case you did manage to find him. By the looks of things there was too many people for you to cross paths, and that made you feel a little bit at ease. You just needed a couple more days, then you’d be able to see him like always. Without tumbling over your stupid crush. Without getting too attached. Without wanting something you could never have.

Suddenly you heard a voice say your name in that way that always made your stomach clench. Shit.

“I’ve been looking all over for you.” his deep voice rang through your ears and your feet stood frozen to the ground. You turned your head. When your eyes landed on him your heart sped up in your chest. Damn it. Why did it have to be him?

Jeongguk stood with his hands in his pockets, completely relaxed, still sporting that comfy boyfriend look that you have always loved on him. The ripped jeans showed his knees and a bit too much of his thigh, the black tshirt looked simple but it fit him so well and made his arms look supple and tanned. He also had his black hair styled a little, but it was still messy, no matter what he did.

You swallowed and tried to look like you haven’t been hit by a train of Jeongguk, destination: fucking feelings.

“You have? What’s up?”

A playful grin spread on his face and there was a dirty promise behind his eyes. “It’s been too long, kitten.”

Oh, of course it would be that. He probably hadn’t noticed you’ve been avoiding him all this time, working through all of your bullshit attraction to him by yourself. He was probably off enjoying banging every girl he saw this past week, and now that that endeavor had gone dry he came crawling back to you. Just like he always did. Just like you always did, too, before you developed the pull for things that weren’t just sex with him.

“Ah, I see.” you said, was your voice strained or was it just you? He seemed to have noticed, but you continued. “I can’t really tonight, I already have…” you eyed around you, hoping to spot someone worthy of taking home and avoiding leaving with Jeongguk. “…plans.”

He raised his eyebrow, clearly not expecting that answer. “What kind of plans?”

“You know, I’m good for the evening. I have someone I’m leaving with.” you lied, eyes still searching for someone, anyone at this point.

“Who? Do I know them?”

That wasn’t the response you were expecting. He never asked that before. Neither of you had asked that before. Well, neither of you had denied each other before, either. But you assumed he would just believe you and let you leave with whoever you pleased. It was never a problem before.

You swallowed, the air around you seemed to have changed for some reason. The tension was growing and it was suffocating you.

“Uhm, probably not.” you laughed, trying to look relaxed, but you weren’t sure if that’s what it came across as. “I just met them at the bar a couple of minutes ago. Didn’t get a name.”

“Huh, I see.” his face was stone cold. “And you’d much rather choose them?”

Your eyes widened and something hard caught in your throat. What was going on? What that- No it couldn’t be. Jeongguk couldn’t be jealous. That wasn’t how this arrangement worked. That wasn’t how any of this worked.

You stumbled over your words as you tried to form an answer that didn’t sound like you were shaken by how he was looking at you, then you felt an arm snake around you and a new voice enter the conversation.

“Beat it. She already has someone for tonight.”

That voice sounded familiar, you turned your head and your eyes widened. Hoseok? What was he-

“And you are?” Jeongguk asked him, eyes blazing. Your eyes snapped back at him. He looked like he was sizing Hoseok up, ready to take him outside to pummel him to death. Your eyes trailed down and noticed his fists were clenched. Oh, boy. This was not how this was supposed to go at all.

Hoseok grinned and leaned in closer to press his cheek against yours. “I’m that someone.”

Something choked in your throat at his words and you spared a glance at Hoseok, eyes pleading to understand what the hell he was talking about.

You were so distracted by his bold statement that you didn’t notice how quiet everything has gotten, it was as if the music stopped playing and time slowed down around you. You swore you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Hoseok glanced at you and winked as if telling you to play along. When you looked back you were met by Jeongguk’s piercing gaze as it moved between you and Hoseok. His jaw was clenched so tight you could see the outline of his jaw muscles on his face. You’ve never seen him so angry before.

“I see.” he said curtly, voice ice cold. “Enjoy your time, then.”

And with that he was gone, pushing past a sea of people, away from your view. You heard music return, a loud bass playing through your ears. But there was something heavy in your chest as you watched him leave. You wanted to run after him and explain everything. To make it all right. To reassure him that it wasn’t his fault, it was all you and your fucking emotions that were going haywire. But you couldn’t. You had an arrangement. You were just friends. You couldn’t talk about emotions like that. It was just sex.

Your eyes stung from tears that were forming and threatening to spill.

Surely he would be able to find someone that was more than satisfactory for tonight, right? He was Jeongguk. He could have anyone. Anyone much better than you could ever be.

You blinked, wiping the few tears that managed to escape with your fingertips and turned to Hoseok. “Uh, thanks, Hobi. You didn’t have to do that.”

He looked over you and you felt his hand run through your hair, gently massaging your scalp. “Hey, it’s ok.” he smiled, eyes gentle, “Do you want to talk about it?”

You laughed hoarsely. “I think you’ve already figured it out, Hobi.”

He hummed in agreement, letting go of your hair and pulling you with him to go outside. It was a gesture you greatly appreciated as you were starting to feel too suffocated inside with all of the smell of alcohol and sweat. Your chest was begging for fresh air.

Once outside, he leaned against the rails of the porch and gestured for you to sit next to him. You did, tucking your ankles behind one another and stared out at the driveway. What a mess. Why did you have to treat Jeongguk like that? He probably would never want to see you ever again. You knew you wouldn’t after that.

“You like him, don’t you?” you heard Hoseok ask beside you in a soft whisper. It was framed like a question, but it was more of a statement and both of you already knew the answer.

You looked over at him and bit your lip before nodding, not trusting yourself to admit it out loud.

Hoseok studied you with his gaze and nodded back, his eyes solemn. “And you don’t want to be? Because you can’t be together?”

“We’re not like that…” you began, searching for words to explain why this whole situation was so difficult for you. “I- We’re supposed to be just friends that enjoy each other’s bodies. Nothing more. I didn’t expect this to happen.”

Hoseok laughed, albeit bitterly but with sympathy in his eyes. “What did you think was going to happen? You were just going to be fuck buddies until you finish college and move on? Haven’t you seen all those friends with benefits movies? How they end up?”

You smiled wryly. “I suppose I didn’t think it could happen to me. I’ve had no strings attached relationships most of my adult life, it was never a problem.”

“But this time something was different, right?” he looked at you knowingly and you felt heat rise to your cheeks.

“There’s something about him���” you mused, a small smile on your lips. “He always makes me do things I’ve never done, but instead of me getting uncomfortable with it or hating him, I enjoy it and grow.”

You heard Hoseok hum, nodding, and stared at your hands in your lap before continuing. “I feel alive with him, not just physically. It’s like I can do anything as long as he’s nearby and I want him by my side more and more.”

“And you’re scared to tell him all this because you don’t want to get rejected?”

You laughed dryly. “Oh, I know I’ll get rejected. Because he doesn’t feel the same. I’m just his best friend that he fucks when things get hard.”

Hoseok snorted at your choice of words and you rolled you eyes. “Pervert.”

“Hey, you’re the one that said it that way.”

“Anyways,” you stared unamused at his sheepish smile, “he doesn’t see me as anything more than that, and I don’t want to ruin everything we have over some feelings that could evaporate as fast as they appear.” you said bitterly. “I don’t trust emotions, they never stay.”

Hoseok opened his mouth and looked like he was about to say something, but held back and cleared his throat. “So what are you going to do?”

“Avoid him, kill these feelings and go back to how things were.”

“And what about after that?”

You looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

“College is coming to an end for you, haven’t you thought what comes after that?” Hoseok pried, “Say you do manage to get rid of these feelings for Jeongguk, would you still keep the relationship going even after college? Do you even know if you’re staying here after?”

“I don’t.” you admitted, feeling like shit. “But it’d be easier to keep a no strings attached relationship going than a romantic one. Not that there’s a chance for it to develop into that anyway.”

Hoseok said your name and you met his eyes. “First off, stop trying to speak for him. You don’t know how he feels. You’re just telling yourself all this to hurt yourself because you feel guilty for enjoying something that happens naturally.”

You swallowed, taking his words in, but didn’t speak.

“Second,” Hoseok raised two fingers before continuing, “Figure your life out. Find out what you want, who you want, and whether you’re willing to try this with him.”

You heart skipped a beat at the thought.

“And third,” he raised another finger, “Talk to him. Tell him how you feel. You’ll need to anyways, regardless of what you choose to do with your life. Because he deserves to know what’s been going on with you.”

He saw you biting your lower lip in fear and sighed. “You at least owe him an explanation, it’s not just you who’s hurt here.” his eyes looked at you sadly.

You were silent for a moment, before you opened your mouth in defeat. “You’re right, Hobi.” you felt a tear slid down your cheek. “Like always, you know jut what to say.”

“Damn straight.” he wiped your tear with his finger.

“I should’ve told you all this weeks before.”

“Damn straight, you should of. I would’ve stopped you from letting it get to this point.”

You felt his hand on yours and him giving it a light squeeze. “Hey, it’s ok. We all fuck up in life, it’s part of learning.”

You laughed, your voice quivering. “Do you think he hates me?”

“Jeongguk?” Hoseok asked and shook his head. “No, I think he’s just upset. He cares about you. I don’t even know the guy that well, but I could see it. He’s been looking for you all night.”

You weren’t sure if that bit of information made you feel better or not. Perhaps not. Or perhaps the whole thing was bittersweet.

“Alright. I’m gonna go home and figure my shit out.” you said, sniffing, and stretched your back. You had a lot of thinking to do. A lot of words to scribble on pieces of papers before you could find the right thing to say to Jeongguk.

“I’ll drop you off.” Hoseok offered, wrapping his arm around you as you walked down the porch.

You nodded your head. “Thanks, Hobi. For everything.”

He smiled brightly. “Anytime. What would you do without me?”

“Probably still be bringing in Jeongguk look-a likes into my bed in hopes of getting over him.”

“Ew, tmi.”

“Haha, sorry.”

You: We need to talk.

Your fingers shook, palms clammy as you send that message. You hoped he was available. You were finally ready to face everything about what got you so twisted in this situation. And you were hoping he had calmed down enough to at least hear you out. That’s all you needed.

Jeongguk: I’m busy.

Your heart sank.

You: It’ll just take 5 mins. Please.

You set your phone down in your lap, hearing the waves crash in front of you and prayed, for the first time in your life, for some kind of cosmic force in the universe to convince him to see you, just one more time.

Jeongguk: Where are you rn?

Oh thank god, or whatever deity that processed your prayer in such a timely manner. Love and prosperity onto them. Bless.

You: At the beach. The one we went to last fall.

Jeongguk: ?? The hell? What are you doing there?

You: Sitting. Get your ass here so I can explain myself.

You imagined him smiling at your text, hopefully. Maybe it was funny. Maybe he didn’t hate you as much as you thought he did. You hoped he still tolerated you enough to come meet you. Or who knows maybe he hated your guts. The next text would tell you for sure.

Jeongguk: omw

Thank god.

You smiled as you read the text and slid your phone back in your pocket. You then took out a stack of pages of your thoughts and feelings to flip through as you waited.

So you might have lied about it taking five minutes. Yes, you were full of shit, but you could maybe try to summarize some key points to tell him. As if it was a presentation. Of your feelings. Wow, so that was a thing that was cringy. Jeez, you really were turning into an emotional mess.

It took him around ten minutes to get to you, and you could hear him stepping down the flight of stairs as he made his way down to the little blanket you had splayed out on the sand.

You felt him sit down next to you, crossing his legs and tore your gaze away from your scribbles to look at him. Your breath caught in your throat. He looked so devastatingly good, like he always did.

The leather jacket he sported looked too good on him, with a grey hoodie underneath and tight ripped jeans with black boots. Comfort and bad boy vibes all in one, you were blindsided for a moment.

Jeongguk cleared his throat. “Well? You said you wanted to talk?”

Was it just you or did it look like he had bags under his eyes? Was he sleeping enough? Has he been out partying the last couple of nights? You hoped he took care of himself without you, you knew how much he hated cooking.

God, that made it sound like the two of you were together… No wonder you fell for him so hard.

“Ah, yes.” you swallowed a large sum of saliva down your throat that you didn’t know you had before moving to face him, crossing your own knees. “I wanted to start by apologizing for blowing you off that night. That wasn’t cool.”

He shrugged, playing with one of the threads of the blanket. “It’s whatever, I found someone else. No big deal.”

Jealousy burned in your chest, but you swallowed, trying to calm it down. Take a breath, you’re here to apologize, not get possessive. Get your shit together.

He wouldn’t meet your eyes, so you continued.

“I also wanted to apologize for avoiding you before that too. That wasn’t cool either, friends don’t do that to each other.”

A wry smile spread on his face at the word ‘friends’, but he didn’t say anything. You cleared your throat, hating how awkward the whole situation seemed. He really wasn’t helping you. You had to crawl out of this mess yourself.

You braced yourself.

“And I also needed to tell you that I fucked up.”

That got his attention, he stopped playing with the fabric and raised his eyes to meet yours, they were full of confusion. He looked so cute with that face, you fought the urge to kiss him. Fuck, not now. This was important.

“I fucked up with our agreement,” you explained, “We were supposed to be best friends who occasionally helped each other get off. Just sex and that’s it. There wasn’t supposed to be anything beyond that.” you bit your lip, looking away from his gaze, not ready to look at him with what came next, “But I fucked it up by falling for you.”

He didn’t say anything, and you could hear your heart thump hard in your chest at your confession. Fuck, okay. It’s not over yet. Fuck, fuck.

You had to remind yourself to keep breathing.

“It started when you took me skinny dipping here,” you motioned to the sea, your eyes lost on the horizon. “I’ve never done anything like that before, and to be honest, I don’t think I would ever have if you hadn’t made me.” you smiled a little at the memory of how you felt underwater.

“It was the first time I let go, and it really made me think about a lot of things.” you tugged at your sleeves. “About how alive you always make me feel. And how I don’t mind you pushing me to try new things. I enjoy it, in fact.”

You still avoided looking at him, you were doing good. So far you were able to talk without fucking up. It was going good. Onto the next point.

“However, I realized that I should not harbor such feelings as it would endanger our friendship, and, well, just make things complicated in general.” you bit the inside of your cheek before continuing, “So I tried to deal with them before they caused any trouble.”

You let out a dry laugh. “Didn’t really work. I found myself taking home guys that looked like you and thinking about what you were up to constantly. It was kind of ridiculous.”

You thought you heard him snort softly, but it was hard to tell with the sound of the waves crashing.

“So anyways, while that was going on, I tried to ignore you in the meantime in fear of slipping up and you finding out about these, feelings, and well,” you laughed, “that clearly wasn’t a good strategy either, cause I should’ve expected sooner or later you’d want my company again and find me, despite my futile attempts.”

You let out a long breath. “So, here we are, awkward and uncertain about what’ll happen now.” your lips thinned. You still couldn’t look at him. “I just want to apologize for not telling you sooner and instead acting like a child. I didn’t mean for all this to happen.”

You felt your eyes stinging, fuck, no. Not now. Really, it was the worst time for you to start crying. Get it together. You’re almost done.

“It’s just-” but the tears started to spill. Ah, fuck.

You laugh at yourself, wiping them with the sleeves of your shirt. “Look at me, I don’t even have my life together; I don’t know what I’m doing after college, I don’t know who I want to be or what I want, and now I’m crying over a simple talk that most people would’ve finished with by now.” you shook your head, chest feeling tight. You took a deep breath.

“It’s just… the only thing I’m sure of,” you hiccuped and gulped, “is that you’re the only thing that make sense in my life.”

After that you finally dared to look at him. Once your eyes landed on him your breath caught in your throat. Jeongguk was looking at you with such wide glassy eyes, it stopped you in your tracks. You had more you wanted to say, but with just one glance you were stricken wordless.

Time around you seemed to slow down, and you focused in on him, on the bits of tears that stained the sides of his eyes, the slight agape of his mouth. How he was looking at you, as if staring into your soul, and not moving.

You felt your heartbeat thumping in your ears as you saw him leaning in closer to you. Up to the point your noses touched. He was so close you could feel his warm breath on your lips. Your eyes were glued to him. He was all you could see.

“Do you mean that?” he said, so softly you could barely hear him.

You choked a little and nodded, making your noses rub against each other at the motion.

And he was kissing you. Your eyes shut as you wrapped your arms around his neck, fingers tangling in his hair. He pulled you closer in his tight hold around your waist.

His lips were so soft and warm, and he kissed you like he was out of breath and needed oxygen, as if it was something he was born to do. You wrapped your legs around his frame and sat in his lap, just wanting to be close. As close as you could get.

His hands trailed up and down your back, slipping underneath your shirt to run across your skin. You shuddered.

Tears kept spilling, staining your cheeks and his. But neither of you stopped, you kept kissing until your lips were swollen and you both needed pull away to breathe.

The both of you rested your foreheads against each other, taking short breaths and eyes locked.

“I-”

“Fuck, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.” he said, gasping against your face.

Your cheeks reddened. “You have?”

Jeongguk smiled, “Yeah, but you said no kissing when we made that damn arrangement.”

You had felt foolish, so absolutely foolish. “I’m sorry.”

He pecked your lips.

You blushed and found yourself asking, “So, do you like me?”

Jeongguk raised his eyebrow at you and smiled. “What do you think?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d ever like me like that.”

“Stop saying sorry and just kiss me, you dolt. That’ll make up for it.”

Before you could respond his lips were on yours again. And you found yourself not really minding that. Or however many times it’ll take for you to make it up to him.

“Fuck you.” Jeongguk groaned. “I want chinese.”

You stuck your tongue out at him. “And I want pizza.”

The two of you were sitting on his couch, a bunch of take out fliers spread out around you, arguing over what to have for dinner once again. Somehow it felt familiar, almost like a routine. And something about that made your heart squeeze affectionately at the thought.

“How about this,” you stared at him seriously, “A compromise; we get a chinese flavoured pizza.”

Jeongguk threw a pillow at your face, his face unamused. “That’s not a compromise, we’ve been over this. That’s you getting your pizza.”

You cackled at him, clutching the pillow to your chest as he tried to grab it from you to throw it at you again.

“Fine, how about chicken wings?”

He stopped trying to pull the pillow away from you at that and smiled his beautiful smile that made your heart race every single time.

“That sounds perfect.” he said as he grabbed his phone to place the order.

And, for once, it was; perfect.

[i-think-2-much]

Morgan Stark+Babysitter Peter Parker

Peter nearly lost his balance as Karen’s voice startled the white noise of the city below him. He had been perched on his favorite gargoyle (a hilariously deformed figure on the roof of an apartment complex on 54th and 3rd) for what felt like an hour, his vision scanning the streets for some sign of trouble. It was relaxing. The only sounds were the hum of conversation, cars, and various machines that blended together into a pleasant, familiar hum. The wind that came along with being so high whipped past him, gently cooling him and preventing the spider suit from getting too hot.

That’s when Karen spoke up, “You have a call.”

He was in such a meditative state that when Karen’s clear, robotic voice shattered the silence, he jumped and had to scramble to keep himself on the gargoyle, “Oh jeez, Karen! You scared me!”

“Peter. You’ve fought aliens, monsters, and fought in a war unlike any seen by an Earthen, and you got scared by a voice?” Karen asked, confused.

“Well, yeah,” Peter huffed, trying to get his heart rate under control, “It came out of nowhere and-- wait, you said I have a call? From who?”

“Pepper Potts.”

Peter blinked, “Weird. I don’t really talk to her that often. Answer it, please,” Peter let a moment pass before launching into his usual phone call introduction, “Hey, you’ve reached Peter Parker. What can I do for you today Ms. Potts. No wait! Mrs. Stark, right? You guys got married while I was… you know. I’m sorry. This has already turned sad. What’s up?”

“I just found an old upgrade Tony was planning on making for your suit, and I was wondering if you wanted to swing by and pick it up. I can’t make any sense of it, but you’re a clever kid. You might be able to figure it out,” Pepper explained.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure to drop by Miss uh…” Peter hesitated, “What do you want me to call you?”

“Pepper is fine.”

“Okay, Pepper,” Peter affirmed, testing out the name, “Any specific time?”

Pepper sighed, “Just whenever you can. I’m going to be working from home all day. Morgan’s babysitter quit without any warning and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Peter hadn’t run into the daughter of Tony Stark very many times. He didn’t interact with the Starks as much as he wanted to, really. He had always been closer to Tony than Pepper, and now since they didn’t have Tony in common, it was sort of awkward. The two couldn’t be any more different: the single mother who was CEO of Stark industries and was constantly finding new tech in her house, and the high schooler who could barely get his homework done because he just happened to be a superhero. Or maybe they could be more different. Whatever the reason was, Peter and Pepper never clicked like they had with Tony.

Due to their lack of a relationship, Peter hadn’t seen much of Morgan. He spoke to her briefly at Mr. Stark’s funeral, and a few times at the formal events Pepper was sometimes forced to make her attend when her babysitters backed out. Still, Peter could hear the stress and the frustration leaking through his suit’s speakers.

He already regretted his decision, but spoke anyway, “You know, the city’s really calm right now. I could keep an eye on Morgan for a bit. I’m generally pretty good at making sure people don’t kill themselves or die in some form. I should be able to keep her alive. Other than that, I make no promises.”

Pepper laughed, but it was tense, “I appreciate the thought, but it’s okay.”

Peter pushed himself to his feet, “Okay, well then I’ll just swing by webber you want me to or not,”

Pepper sighed, “Can you superhero types go a day without making a pun?”

“Sorry Miss, that’s against my contract,” Peter joked.

“Just come pick up this upgrade before Morgan finds it and does something she’s not supposed to,” Pepper pleaded.

Peter took a few steps back, crouched into a sprinting stance, and took off in a mad sprint. When he reached the end of the building, he pushed off with all his might, effectively launching himself in the air.

He hung with a final, “On my way,” and turned his attention to the challenge in front of him. He sent out a web and gripped the coarse cord. He’d probably have to find somewhere to change and just take the bus to the Stark’s place… Or he could just hitch a ride on a bus. Was that legal?

Peter dismissed the concept and turned his mind to other matters, “Karen? Would you please call Aunt May for me?”

The speaker in his suit rang a few times before the woman picked up, “Hey Peter! Everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I helped a kid get home after school. He got lost, so I gave him a ride. That was adorable. And I managed to prevent a bank robbery the second it started. This dude was acting, like, super suspicious, so I followed him into a bank and caught him as soon as he took out his gun. Not a single shot fired.

“ Anyway, I just got a call from Pepper—you know, Tony’s Pepper— and she found a suit upgrade Tony had been working on before… Anyway, she wants me to pick it up ASAP. Apparently Morgan has developed an interest for that sort of stuff.”

May let out a little laugh, “Well then you and Morgan have a lot in common. How are you planning on getting there?”

Peter had to dodge a particularly low-flying bird before answering, “I’ll just take the bus. It’s not too long of a ride,”

“Don’t you have an essay due soon?” May reminded him.

He considered the problem before making a decision, “I can type it out on my phone during the bus ride. It’ll be fine.”

May sighed, “Okay, fine, just stay safe. I lost you for five years. I never want to lose you again. You know how much I love you, right?”

“Yeah, don’t worry. I love you too. I love you too.”

With immense difficulty, Peter located the next bus to the Stark’s neighborhood and secured himself a little spider-nest on the top and began typing away. Thankfully, he had had the foresight to download a digital copy of the book he was analyzing, which meant that he could just switch between his writing app and the ebook. It was annoying, but doable. By the time the bus was off the highway, his essay was completed and sent to Ned for a peer review.

Not too long after that, Peter found himself ringing the doorbell of the Stark’s house. He hadn’t been on this property since Tony’s funeral. He could remember crying on the bench on the front porch with May running her hands through her hair mumbling reassurances, but May hadn’t been there. She wasn’t the one holding him as the life faded out of his body. Watching as the life—

Pepper opened the door, pulling him out of her thoughts, “You’re wearing your suit? Of course you are. Why not. Come in.”

Peter lowered his mask as he entered the house. He had briefly seen it during the funeral, but he was a bit distracted. Now that his eyes weren’t blurry from tears, he could admire the rustic decor. It drastically juxtaposed with his original expectations of the Stark’s home. The CEO of the most powerful company in the US and one of the generation’s greatest innovators lived in a warm, quaint, older home without the stainless steel accents and whites Peter had expected.

“You have a lovely home,” Peter notified Pepper.

Pepper brushed a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear, “Yeah, Tony built it himself. I had no idea what he was up to. I actually got mad at him, because I was pregnant and he just ran off, but then he showed me…”

Peter brushed a hand against their kitchen table, studying the wood grain, “And let me guess, the Table’s actually a 3D model rendering system that can be used for calculating quantum theories?” He speculated.

“I’m pretty sure you were being sarcastic, but it actually is,” Pepper confessed.

“Oh no, I wasn’t. Mr. Stark always thinks of everything. He made me a space suit and a parachute built into this suit.”

“Mama, can we please play now?” A small voice pleaded from the adjacent room, “It’s been ages.”

The tiny girl went around the corner and froze at the sight of Peter, “There is a weird human in our house. You’re human, right?”

Peter grinned, “Yeah. I’m Peter Parker.”

The girl smirked and crossed her arms, “No you’re not. You’re Spider-Man.”

Peter froze, “How did you—“ he paused and looked down at his Spider-Man suit, “Oh.”

Morgan walked over and grabbed Pepper’s leg, “Mama, why is Spider-Man at our house?”

“Daddy made something for him awhile ago before everyone came back. He just came to pick it up,” Pepper explained.

Morgan gasped, her hands darting to cover her mouth in disbelief, “Daddy knew Spider-Man!”

“She’s a fan,” Pepper explained. Morgan just stared at Peter in awe.

Peter grinned at the little girl’s adorable reaction. He lowered himself to her level and made eye contact with her, “I knew your daddy very well. He made me my suit and—“ tears welled up in his eyes”— and taught me almost everything I needed to know about being a superhero. He made me an avenger, a good person, and a hero. In fact, he was like a dad to me in some ways. I really miss him.”

“Daddy was pretty cool,” Morgan agreed, “He was friends with Scarlett Witch and promised me he’d teach me how to make my own radio,”her face fell, “but he never got around to it.”

The look on her face broke Peter’s heart. She was so hopeless and resigned…

He made up his mind right then, “Maybe I’ll have to teach you,” he decided, “If it’s okay with your mom, I’ll show you right now.”

Peter looked up at Pepper. He took some delight at seeing the surprise written on her face as she protested, “No, Peter, you don’t have to—“

“Pepper, please, it’s the least I can do. Besides, she’s a Stark. Something tells me that if no one shows her, she’ll figure it out herself eventually. I might as well save her the time.”

“Please Mommy!” Morgan pleaded, using a child’s most important tool: the puppy eyes.

“Fine,” Pepper relented, “All of our scraps are in the garage.”

Morgan squealed in excitement and gripped her mother’s leg tighter before letting go and snatching Peter’s arm. Morgan pulled him into the garage and showed Peter to the scrap pile.

Peter rubbed his hands together, “Okay, so how about I get everything we need and then I’ll explain everything to you.”

Morgan seated herself on the floor and nodded.

Peter rummaged through the pile and gathered everything they would need, “Okay, so now… oh. Uh…” he turned to look at Morgan, “What do you know about radios?”

“When you turn the dial, it’s a different song. That’s it,” Morgan admitted.

“Well okay. Do you want me to explain it quickly or the real way?” Peter inquired.

Morgan perked up and squeaked, “The real way!”

“You sure? It’s gonna be a bit harder to understand,” Peter warned.

“I can do it!” Morgan slammed her firsts against the ground with a loud BANG.

Peter raised his hands up in surrender, “Okay, jeesh. So there’s something called radio waves…”

Morgan was a surprisingly good student for someone so young. She was eager, constantly grabbing things straight from Peter’s hands, and forgot everything that Peter told her, but Peter expected worse. After lots of consideration and promises that she would be careful, Peter let her solder a wire or two, but for the most part Peter did all of the hot stuff. Morgan’s job was to line everything up and to learn.

By the time they were done, the radio was a mess. Peter would have done a much better job on his own, but that didn’t matter.

He raised an eyebrow at Morgan, “Okay. I think it’s ready!”

Morgan gasped, “Really!”

Peter shrugged, “Only one way to find out,” he held their small metal box of wires out to her, “Do you remember which one was the switch?”

Morgan nodded and pressed it. Immediately, Black Sabbath filled the room. Morgan squealed of joy, the sound twisting with the heavy bass of the band.

Peter barked out a laugh at the girl’s reaction, “You did it!”

“And then we change the channel by doing…” She frowned at the device, “THIS!”

The song was replaced with some song by Imagine Dragons. Morgan squealed again, “Can I show my Mama?”

Peter nodded, “Yeah, I’ll come with you!”

Morgan sprinted out of the garage with surprising speed. Peter had to run after her in order to keep up.

“Mama! Mama! Look what me and Spider-Man made!” Morgan squealed to a closed door.

There was a short scuffle from the other side of the door before Pepper opened it and knelt down, “Oh, what is it?” She asked, feigning ignorance, “Is it… your lunch?”

Morgan giggled, “No, silly! We made a radio! See!”

Morgan pressed the button and shone with pride as the music blasted out of the speakers.

Pepper raised her eyebrows in surprise, as if she hadn’t been expecting their endeavors to be so successful, “Wow! It sounds so good!”

“I know! And look! It can change songs!” Morgan squealed, showing her how she turned the knobs for the channel and volume, “Spidey said that the numbers we see on our car radio are actually the frequencies of radio waves!” She launched into an explanation that summarize exactly what Peter had just explained to her, going into the science and everything.

Peter laughed when she finished, “Wow, Morgan. I’m surprised you remembered that much.”

Morgan seemed even more surprised than Peter, “I just listened and asked questions.”

A small, wistful smile wormed its way onto Pepper’s face, “Well, she is a Stark after all.”

———-

“But MOOOooooOom,” Morgan complained as Peter slipped his hood back on, “Does Spider-Man have to leave?”

“He has school in the morning, honey,” Pepper chided.

Morgan crossed her arms with a “Hmph”. She moaned before relenting, “Fine. Bye Peter. I love you… Ten. That’s close to one hundred, right?”

Peter couldn’t help but smile, “Close enough.”